The history of prostitution in Canada is based on the fact that Canada inherited its criminal laws from England. The first recorded laws dealing with prostitution were in Nova Scotia in , although as early as August 19, the Sovereign Council of New France convicted Catherine Guichelin, one of the King's Daughters , with leading a "life scandalous and dishonest to the public", declared her a prostitute and banished her from the walls of Quebec City under threat of the whip.
These dealt principally with pimping, procuring, operating brothels and soliciting. Most amendments to date have dealt with the latter, originally classified as a vagrancy offence, this was amended to soliciting in , and communicating in Since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms became law, the constitutionality of Canada's prostitution laws have been challenged on a number of occasions.
Canada originally inherited many of its criminal laws from England. The first legislation dealing with prostitution in Canada was a Nova Scotia Act of which allowed imprisonment for "lewd behaviour". As in many other countries, what control there was of prostitution existed under vagrancy laws designed to keep public places free of "undesirables".
Owners or operators of brothels bawdy houses could also be prosecuted as vagrants. These were based on the British Vagrancy Act Once the federal government came into being following Confederation in , it became possible to develop common criminal laws for all of Canada.
Women under 21 were protected from 'defilement' from that date, while in , vagrancy provisions were consolidated and extended to include males 'living on the avails' of prostitution. The penalties were increased in , and bawdy houses regulated from By a lack of suitable alternatives, women were annexed into the sex industry.
