Is hiring a dominatrix legal in Canada?
<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Canada" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipeidia</a> it is illegal &quot;to purchase or advertise sexual services&quot;. This statement seems very broad and would include more than copulation.</p>
<p>I noticed on a dominatrix website, they asked for photo ID and payment by credit card. If the activity was illegal I would have thought they would avoid leaving a paper trail. I heard the ID is to make sure the clients are not minors. Is this true?</p>
<p>I had once gone to a dungeon party. Personally I found many activities not at all sexual. Just for example's sake some people pretended to be dogs. Since there was no money exchanged this wouldn't break the law, but if someone paid a dominatrix to treat them like a dog, would it? Would details like if they were nude or if genitals were touched make a difference? Does the law define what is meant by &quot;sexual&quot;? In general &quot;BDSM&quot; refers to something sexual and from a quick search most definitions of dominatrix refer to BDSM. So in this sense would they be illegal?</p>

<p>The closest possible prohibition is found in s. 286.1 of the Criminal Code, which makes it an offence to pay for the &quot;sexual services of a person.&quot;</p>
<p>&quot;Sexual services&quot; is not a defined term. The Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36faq/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">provides its opinion about what this term might cover</a>, but that is not determinative.</p>
<p>In relation to a charge of the previous version of this prohibition (which also used the term &quot;sexual services&quot;), counsel was unable to direct the judge to a definition of the term, and the judge was unable to find one (<a href="https://canlii.ca/t/gm78b" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2015 ABPC 241</a>). The judge adopted a test that requires the service to include &quot;some sexually suggestive physical act on the part of the person providing the sexual service&quot;. This is a test somewhat stricter than the one proposed by the Department of Justice in that in addition to merely being &quot;sexually stimulating or gratifying,&quot; there physical act itself must be &quot;sexually suggestive.&quot;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[50] What is a “sexual service”?  Counsel have not directed me to, nor have I been able to find a definition of the term “sexual services”.</p>
<p>[51] Sexual services” would clearly include any type of sexual intercourse,
or physical contact for purposes of masturbation. It would also
include posing for nude photographs. A request “to touch or feel
the breasts of the [female] complainant” is an attempt to obtain the
sexual services of the complainant.  In my view, “sexual services” would
also include dancing in a sexually provocative or stimulating fashion.
In terms of a general definition, I think the phrase “sexual favours
rendered ...for the sexual gratification of the customer” is sufficient.</p>
<p>[52]  However, I am of the view that the “sexual services” or
“sexual favours for the sexual gratification” of a person requires
that there be some sexually suggestive physical act on the part of the
person providing the sexual service.  The sexually suggestive physical
act may be many things, such as posing nude, or sexually suggestive
dancing, or suggestively removing clothing. That list is not
exhaustive, and, with the creativity of the human mind, I doubt one
could ever create an exhaustive list. However, the common element is
that some sort of sexually suggestive physical act is necessary to
constitute the sexual service.</p>
<p>[53]  In the case at bar, the accused had M.C. engage in what
one might call “fantasy role playing”.  If the role playing involved
M.C. performing a sexually suggestive physical act, then the
definition of “sexual service” might well be satisfied.  However, in
the case at bar, M.C. took on the fantasy role of being the slave in a
master/slave relationship.  M.C. did not perform any acts as a slave.
The “slave role” was one in the mind of the accused (and perhaps
M.C.), and had its expression in the content of emails and text
messages between Mr. Peterson and M.C., but M.C. did not engage in
physical acts for the sexual gratification of the accused.  ...</p>
<p>[54]           M.C. was cast in the
role of a slave in fantasy role playing, but the playing really only
occurred in the heads of Mr. Peterson and M.C.  That does not
constitute the act of Mr. Peterson obtaining the sexual services of
M.C.</p>
<p>[citations removed]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But this was a lower trial court's reasoning that has not been adopted by others yet, and no other court has needed to develop the definition at the margins.</p>

<h2>If the service is not sexual, yes</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/c36faq/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sexual service</a> “is a service that is sexual in nature and whose purpose is to sexually gratify the person who receives it” including “sexual intercourse; masturbation; oral sex; lap-dancing, which involves sitting in a person’s lap and simulating sexual intercourse; and, <strong>sado-masochistic activities</strong>, <em>provided that the acts can be considered to be sexually stimulating or gratifying.</em>”</p>
<p>Whether they are or not is for the trier of fact to decide.</p>

canada sexual-offences prostitution