Lap dancing deemed criminal: Montreal police crackdown claims longstanding Decarie Blvd bar

  A Decarie Blvd. strip club has lost its right to provide nude entertainment due to a 2011 legal decision that deems lap dancing to be a form of prostitution.
  The decision could lead to the demise of lap dancing here, after it had been considered legal since 2000.
  Montreal police employed a "source agent" to hire a dancer to perform four $10 lap dances at a Decarie Blvd. strip club in Nov. 2014 with the shocking result that the dancer allowed the agent to put his hands between a dancer's buttocks.
   The same agent requested other sexual services, to which the dancer said no.
   Although seemingly inconsequential at best and at worst ethically questionable, the incident forms part of the evidence which will likely lead to the permanent closure of the Sexe D'Or strip club.
   The RACJ boze booard ruling, signed February 2, suspended the bar's liquor license for 15 days and "refuses authorization for shows involving nudity."

   The decision notes that contact strip dances were legally permitted since Aug. 2000 but that permission was reversed at Quebec Appeals Court, which deemed that the act upset "public tranquility."
   The Supreme Court did not overturn the 2011 Marceau ruling and as a result, paying to touch breasts, thighs, constitutes an act of prostitution.
   The application of that law would wipe out every strip club that exists, so if you own shares in such establishments you might think about dumping them.
   About 50 customers visit the Sexe D'Or on an average night, where up to a dozen dancers work, each making about $100 per night. The club also employs DJs, doormen, waitresses, barmaids among among other staffers
   Dozens of such establishments exist across Quebec. Their closures could have considerable economic impact on those employed at such places, and also diminish entertainment options for tourists and others who seek thrills at such places.
   The zealous police officer who led the fight against the club is 21-year-veteran Montreal police Lieut. Dominic Monchamp. He gives speeches about the sex trade and speaks to judges as an expert witness.
   He said that according to Canadian law prostitution is not illegal but paying for sexual services is, so anybody who pays to touch a woman's breasts or buttocks is now considered to be committing a criminal act.
   The decision makes no mention that police were involved in a an embarrassingly vigorous take-down at the club in 2010, which resulted in bad publicity for the squad.
   The bar's other misdeeds would not have merited the revocation of its license, compared to other such cases.
   The anti-strip club campaign might not help Canada's reputation as boring, which has kept many tourists from visiting the country.
   But it might at least give police something to do in a city which has seen crime plummet whjile police budgets continue to grow.
   Through the ages Montreal has seen a battle rage between forces that wish the city to be a party town and others which want it to be a devout Catholic town.
  Mayors like Camilien Houde (with support from Premier Duplessis) had the former vision, while Mayor Drapeau championed the latter.
   It would appear that our current Mayor Denis Coderre is also siding with the pious view for Montreal.
   In related news, the Chez Francis strip club in Dorval has also officially closed, as we noted was imminent in a recent post.