The move comes months after the company pulled the adult category in the U.S. at the urging of federal lawmakers and other advocacy groups.
The company’s traffic dropped by roughly 10 percent after the category was removed.
Canadian officials said they were pleased to see that Craigslist “appears to have taken steps to protect women, children and the vulnerable.”
"Our government was concerned that such advertisements could facilitate serious criminal offences, such as living on the avails of child prostitution and trafficking in persons," said Rob Nicholson, Canadian’s justice minister.
Industry experts say it’s unclear whether removing the adult ads will deter online sex predators. A consulting group for the classified industry said similar sex ads have appeared on another site, Backpage.com.
Craigslist said previously that it is committed to be socially responsible including combating violent crime, human trafficking and the exploitation of minors.
In September, four human rights groups — The Polaris Project, Courtney’s House, the FAIR Fund and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights — called on Craigslist to shut down the adult services section on all of its international sites.
