Dozens of people touting red umbrellas and signs that read “Someone I love is a sex worker” and “Decriminalize sex work, save lives” gathered in downtown Toronto on Saturday afternoon as part of nationwide rallies held to protest the federal government’s proposed new legislation governing sex work.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay unveiled the bill earlier this month after the Supreme Court struck down Canada’s old laws governing sex work in December 2013 that prohibited brothels, communicating with potential clients and “living off the avails” of prostitution.

The proposed new rules seek to put an end to the sex trade by targeting those who purchase or profit from sex work, while casting sex workers as largely victims. It’s met fierce resistance from sex workers and their advocates.

Jean McDonald, executive director of Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, said stipulations in the bill that criminalize selling sex in public, advertising services online and benefiting from the sale of sex would endanger sex workers by forcing them to even more isolated, marginalized areas.

“In many ways, this legislation is a gift to sexual predators,” said McDonald, wearing a Maggie’s T-shirt that reads “It’s been a business doing pleasure with you” across the back. “It means they can’t work in groups to watch out for one another and say, ‘I’ll be back in half an hour.’ And people who would do women harm, who would do sex workers harm, will know this.”

McDonald accused the federal government of “spitting in the face” of the Supreme Court ruling, which held that Canada’s laws put sex workers at risk by making it illegal for them to, for example, hire a security guard or pre-screen a client.

The federal government has insisted the bill will include programs to help sex workers exit the trade, contending that the “vast majority” do not sell sex by choice.

Christa Big Canoe, the legal director of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, said the proposed law is too similar to those that were struck down.

“The proposed law has the potential to cause harm to the most vulnerable,” she said.

Well over 50 people gathered in the southeast corner of Allan Gardens on Sherbourne St. on Saturday afternoon as part of what was touted as a national day of action, with similar rallies held in cities across Canada.

Following speeches, a dance act and spoken word performance, protesters marched into the intersection of Sherbourne and Gerrard St. E. to stage a “die-in” and hold a moment of silence for those sex workers who have disappeared or been killed.