The federal government has refined its proposed rewrite of Canada's prostitution laws in response to criticism that a blanket ban on all "public communication" by sex workers to narrow those restrictions to areas near schools, playgrounds or daycare centres.
The ban on public communication originally applied to all areas where those under the age of 18 could "reasonably" be present.
The government has also accepted an NDP proposal for a mandatory committee review of the legislation's impact after five years, although the NDP had pushed for a review after two years.
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The move came as the House of Commons justice committee began the second and final phase of its study on the government's bid to rewrite Canada's prostitution laws.
Over the course of four days last week, during back-to-back sessions, MPs heard from more than 70 witnesses, including current and former sex workers, families of women victimized by the sex trade, law enforcement, legal experts, academics, researchers, frontline outreach workers and human rights activists.
Nearly all of the witnesses — including many of those who were, by and large, supportive of the bill — had urged the government to strip the bill of any provisions that could result in criminal charges against sex workers, particularly the now amended section on public communication, which some witnesses said would pose a risk to the safety of sex workers.
The government's amendment didn't go as far as most witnesses had recommended and may not be sufficient to allay those fears.
The NDP also put forward 11 amendments to the bill. So far, each of the four that have come up for debate has been defeated, as was a motion to define "prostitution" to include offering sexual services, which was proposed by Independent MP Maria Mourani.
A list of all proposed amendments was released Tuesday morning.
A spokesman for Liberal MP Sean Casey said his party hasn't proposed any changes, as they voted against the bill at second reading.
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Green Party Leader Elizabeth May told CBC News the bill was "so bad" there was no way to amend it, although her party intends to put forward motions to delete provisions at report stage.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay had suggested he was open to amendments, but his office has been tight-lipped over what, if any, proposed changes the government is prepared to support. (Reuters)
Ultimately, though, it is up to the government — and, specifically, Justice Minister Peter MacKay — to decide what changes should be made to the bill based on what the committee heard during last week's marathon session.
This spring, Minister for Democratic Reform Pierre Poilievre responded to widespread concern over his proposal to rejig Canada's election laws by bringing forward substantive amendments that addressed specific worries expressed by witnesses at committee, including issues related to voter identification and the investigative process.
