Crimes related to the sex trade in Canada
Released: 2026-02-10
Sex trade-related crime includes several Criminal Code offences, such as purchasing sexual services and profiting from others' sexual services. In December 2014, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) was implemented, shifting the focus of criminalization away from those who sell their own sexual services toward those who purchase sexual services or benefit financially from others' sexual services.
Since the enactment of the PCEPA, the number of police-reported incidents of crime related to the sex trade has declined. From 2020 to 2024, there were close to 4,300 incidents of sex trade-related crime reported by police across the country, representing a decrease of 58% compared with the period that preceded the legislative changes (2010 to 2014).
The Juristat article "Crimes related to the sex trade in Canada, 2020 to 2024," released today, examines the latest trends in sex trade-related crime reported by police following the change in legislation, along with information on sex trade cases completed in adult criminal courts.
Police-reported crime related to the sex trade has continued to decrease, primarily because of fewer incidents involving stopping or communicating violations
There were 4,275 incidents of sex trade-related crime reported by police from 2020 to 2024, down by 22% from the 2015-to-2019 period (5,466 incidents) and down by 58% from the 2010-to-2014 period (10,173)—the period that preceded the legislative changes. These declines were largely because of fewer violations associated with stopping or communicating offences, which decreased from 8,554 incidents for the 2010-to-2014 period, to 224 incidents for the 2020-to-2024 period (-97%).
Chart 1
Incidents of police-reported crime related to the sex trade, by type of violation, Canada, 2010 to 2024
Among the provinces, Manitoba had the highest average annual rate of police-reported crime related to the sex trade from 2020 to 2024 (5.6 incidents per 100,000 population). Saskatchewan (3.8), Quebec (3.7) and New Brunswick (2.6) also all had rates of sex trade-related crime that were notably higher than the national rate (2.2).
Large decline in the number of women accused of police-reported crime related to the sex trade since the enactment of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act
Since the PCEPA came into force, the number and proportion of women accused of police-reported sex trade-related crime have continuously declined. From 2020 to 2024, 7% of accused were women, while 93% of accused were men. During the 2010-to-2014 period, before the PCEPA's enactment, men were still the majority (60%) of accused, but to a far lesser extent, as women accounted for 40% of accused of police-reported sex trade-related crime.
The number of accused persons (men and women) declined after the PCEPA was enacted, but women were much less commonly charged than men in sex trade-related incidents. From 2020 to 2024, nearly two-thirds (65%) of women were charged in such incidents, compared with more than three-quarters (77%) of incidents involving men.
Fewer sex trade cases completed in adult criminal courts since the enactment of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act
There were 1,290 sex trade cases completed in adult criminal courts in Canada from 2019/2020 to 2023/2024 (the reference period of criminal court statistics is April 1 to March 31). This represented a 39% decline from the 2,099 cases completed in the 2014/2015-to-2018/2019 period that immediately followed the PCEPA's enactment and a 77% decrease from the 5,521 cases completed from 2009/2010-to-2013/2014. The declines were driven largely by fewer cases involving stopping or communicating offences; this is consistent with trends observed in police-reported data.
Just over one-third (34%) of sex trade cases completed from 2019/2020 to 2023/2024 resulted in a guilty decision, up from 27% in the 2014/2015-to-2018/2019 period and from 28% in the 2009/2010-to-2013/2014 period.
Note to readers
Police-reported data come from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey. One incident can involve multiple offences. Most analysis is based on incidents where the most serious violation was related to the sex trade.
Sex trade-related offences in this article include the following Criminal Code offences:
Violations associated with the purchasing of sexual services:
Obtaining sexual services for consideration from a minor (s. 212[4], s. 286.1[2])
Obtaining sexual services for consideration from an adult (s. 286.1[1])
Violations associated with profiting from others' sexual services:
Living on the avails of prostitution of a minor (s. 212[2])
Receiving material benefit from others' sexual services (s. 286.2[2], s. 286.2[1])
Procuring others to provide sexual services (s. 170, s. 171, s. 212[1], s. 286.3[2], s. 286.3[1])
Advertising others' sexual services (s. 286.4)
Violations associated with stopping or communicating:
Stopping or impeding traffic or communicating for the purposes of offering, providing or obtaining sexual services (s. 213, s. 213[1])
Communicating to provide sexual services for consideration near playgrounds, school yards and daycare centres (s. 213[1.1])
Given that there may be small counts of victims and accused persons identified as "non-binary," the UCR Survey data available to the public have been recoded to assign these counts to either "women and girls" or "men and boys" to ensure the protection of confidentiality and privacy. Accused persons include those aged 12 and older. Accused under the age of 12 cannot be held criminally responsible. For the purposes of readability, the categories of "women" and "men" are used for discussion about accused persons. A small proportion of accused were aged 12 to 17. Percentage calculations exclude victims and accused persons whose gender was unknown.
Data on sex trade cases in courts come from the Integrated Criminal Court Survey (ICCS), which collects statistical information on adult criminal and youth court cases involving Criminal Code and other federal statute offences in Canada. ICCS data are reported by fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).
A case is defined as one or more charges against an accused person or company that were processed by the courts at the same time and received a final decision. A case combines all charges against the same person with one or more key overlapping dates (date of offence, date of initiation, date of first appearance, date of decision or date of sentencing) into a single case.
A case that has more than one charge is represented by the charge with the "most serious offence." The most serious offence is selected using the following rules. First, court decisions are considered, and the charge with the most serious decision is selected. Court decisions for each charge in a case are ranked from most to least serious as follows: (1) guilty; (2) guilty of a lesser offence; (3) acquitted; (4) stay of proceeding; (5) withdrawn, dismissed and discharged; (6) not criminally responsible; (7) other; (8) transfer of court jurisdiction. Second, in cases where two or more charges result in the same most serious decision (e.g., guilty), Criminal Code sentences are considered.
Guilty findings include guilty of the charged offence, of an included offence, of an attempt of the charged offence or of an attempt of an included offence. This category also includes guilty pleas and cases where an absolute or conditional discharge has been imposed.
Products
The article "Crimes related to the sex trade in Canada, 2020 to 2024" is now available as part of the publication Juristat (85-002-X).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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