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One of the most consequential updates to Canada's Criminal Code in generations to confront modern threats and better protect victims and survivors
Violence driven by control and fear leaves deep and lasting harm in homes and communities across the country. This kind of abuse falls disproportionately on women, and too often the consequences are deadly. Predators prey on the most vulnerable among us, committing some of the most horrific crimes imaginable against children. These are among the most traumatic and disturbing cases in our justice system today, and Canada's new government is moving swiftly to better protect victims and survivors, and ensure abusers and predators face the full force of the law.
Following sweeping reforms to make bail laws stricter and toughen sentencing laws for violent and organized crime, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, announced today the introduction of the Protecting Victims Act, one of the most consequential reforms of the Criminal Code in a generation to protect victims and survivors of sexual violence, gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence, and to keep our kids safe from predators. This legislation also responds to long-standing concerns about court delays under the Jordan framework, which limits how long cases can take before they risk being dismissed, sometimes leaving victims without a resolution.
Stop intimate partner violence and femicide
- Making murder motivated by hate first-degree, including femicide: The Criminal Code would classify murders driven by hate or that occur alongside controlling or coercive behaviour of an intimate partner, sexual violence or exploitation as first-degree murder, even when there was no planning and deliberation. These killings overwhelmingly target women, with intimate partner homicides rising 39% last year and 81% of victims being women.
- Criminalize coercive control to facilitate intervention before intimate partner violence turns lethal: Abuse often escalates through patterns of control long before physical violence occurs. A new offence would target patterns of coercive or controlling behaviour, giving the justice system the tools to intervene before violence escalates.
- Modernize sexual violence protections: The proposed legislation would prohibit the distribution of non-consensual sexual deepfakes, increase penalties for the distribution of intimate images without consent, prohibit threats to distribute such images, and increase penalties for sexual assault on summary conviction.
Keep our kids safe from predators
- Put child predators behind bars: This legislation would strengthen mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment for predators who possess or access child sexual abuse and exploitation material, including restoring at least a dozen mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment for a range of child sexual offences that were previously struck down by courts. These changes would ensure that those who prey on our kids face prison time for the most heinous crimes imaginable.
- Crack down on online sextortion: Kids are being targeted online in a world with threats that are very different compared to a decade ago. This legislation proposes stronger measures to address online sexploitation and child luring, including by criminalizing threatening to distribute child sexual abuse and exploitation material and distributing bestiality depictions, which are known to be used to manipulate children for sexual purposes. The proposed changes would also strengthen Canada's ability to prosecute predators who sexually exploit children abroad. To give law enforcement and prosecutors the tools they need to stop these crimes and bring perpetrators to justice, the limitation period for the prosecution of offences under the Mandatory Reporting Act would be extended from 2 to 5 years. Online platforms would also be required to preserve data longer, from 21 days to one year.
- Protect youth from being exploited into criminal activity: Criminal organizations are increasingly pressuring, recruiting, or grooming kids to commit serious crimes on their behalf. This legislation would create a new offence of recruiting youth into crime and toughen sentencing laws so that those who recruit, encourage, or counsel a kid to commit a crime would face a strong response.
For many victims, the court process itself can be overwhelming and retraumatizing. When cases drag on or are stayed because of procedural delays, victims are left without closure and justice is not served. This legislation would give courts clear guidance on how to deal with court delays, including in sexual assault cases and make clear that a stay need not be imposed in cases of delay. New measures would also improve victims and survivors' access to information about their case and make testimonial aids more accessible. These changes would help victims feel safer in court, reduce trauma, and ensure they are treated with dignity throughout a process they should never have to endure.
To ensure mandatory minimum penalties remain strong, enforceable, and constitutional this legislation would strengthen all mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, including those in the Criminal Code. It would do so by allowing judicial discretion to order another sentence of imprisonment, where applying the specific mandatory minimum would be grossly disproportionate, except for murder and high treason which carry a life sentence. Jail time would still be required. This approach is designed to protect and preserve mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, while ensuring they continue to apply to the serious crimes for which they are intended. This builds on earlier reforms in Bill C-14, which proposes the removal of house arrest for a range of sexual and child-sexual offences and increased penalties for serious crimes.
This legislation also proposes to increase penalties for sexual crimes, including voyeurism, sexual assault, indecent exposure, non-consensual distribution of intimate images (including sexual deepfakes), and obtaining sexual services from a child, to better reflect the seriousness of the crimes.
