Status: Passed 1st Reading in the Senate
Description: Would use the notwithstanding clause to declare that mandatory minimum sentences for possessing or accessing child pornography continue to operate notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s ruling that these penalties are unconstitutional.
Analysis: Mandatory minimum sentences indicate the severity of a crime and are generally reserved for the most egregious crimes. Bill S-240 would maintain minimum sentences for possessing or accessing child pornography and would continue to highlight the severity of such crimes. The scourge of child pornography justifies a mandatory minimum sentence for offenders.
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Status: Passed 1st reading in the House of Commons
Description: Bill C-254 seeks to add a prohibition to the Criminal Code regarding the wilful promotion of hatred against Indigenous peoples by “condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada or by misrepresenting facts relating to it.” This prohibition is similar to an already-existing prohibition on the wilful promotion of antisemitism.
Analysis: Canadians have different perspectives on issues including residential schools, and should be permitted to disagree and dialogue about such topics. Singling out particular groups or events in the Criminal Code risks censoring speech that is not hateful but is instead politically unpopular.
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Status: Passed 1st reading in the House of Commons
Description: Increases penalties for mischief in relation to religious property and applies those penalties whether or not such mischief was motivated by hate or bias. Includes restitution as a penalty to shift the financial burden caused by vandalism from the victim to the criminal.
Analysis: Restitution is an important element of restorative justice that ought to be used for crimes where property has been taken, destroyed, or damaged. Incorporating this principle for penalties for mischief involving religious property may deter crime while also helping victims repair damage to their property or building. Read this article to learn more.
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Status: At Committee in the House of Commons
Description: This bill would add a definition of “hatred” to the Criminal Code for the existing offence of wilfully promoting hatred, and would add new offences to the Criminal Code. If passed, the bill will prohibit various hate symbols, add a new stand-alone hate crime offence, and prohibit certain conduct that would impede access to any building or site primarily used by an identifiable group.
Analysis: While much less concerning than a previous government bill (C-63, never passed), Bill C-9 still has concerning elements. The proposed definition of hatred appears to lower the bar for what constitutes the offence of promoting hatred. Additionally, the new hate crime offence and offences related to religious and cultural places could create more confusion and challenges than benefits. What Canada really needs is better enforcement of existing laws to prevent criminal activity and high recidivism. For more about this bill, read ARPA Canada’s Submission to the Justice Committee or New Hate Speech Legislation in Canada.
Action Items:
Status: At first reading in the Senate.
Description: Gives victims of crime the right to obtain reparations for harm done, and for the court to consider a restitution order against the offender, as well as access to restorative justice programs. It would also require the Minister of Justice to develop training for authorities in the criminal justice system regarding the rights of victims.
Analysis: Restitution is an important element of restorative justice which is not commonly used in Canada. This bill would provide greater opportunities for victims to understand their options and for courts to consider restitution orders against offenders.
Action Items: None. For an article on a similar bill which did not become law, see Senate Bill Proposes Improvements to Criminal Justice in Line with ARPA Recommendations
Status: At first reading in the Senate.
Description: Requires the government to maintain, update, and report on the progress of the existing National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking.
Analysis: Human trafficking is one of the most egregious violations of human dignity in Canada today. While Canada has a national strategy to combat human trafficking, this is an issue that should always be a priority for the Canadian government.
Action Items: None.
Status: Completed first reading in the House of Commons
Description: Would eliminated the expansion of eligibility for euthanasia to those with mental illnesses. Bill C-7, the last piece of euthanasia legislation, had a sunset clause that would allow those with mental illnesses to be eligible for euthanasia. While the government delayed the implementation of this clause by another three years in Bill C-62, this bill proposed to scrap that clause entirely.
Analysis: It is incomprehensible that our society provides suicide prevention to one class of citizens and assisted suicide to another class of citizens. The extension of assisted suicide to those with mental illness effectively means that assisted suicide is a perfectly legitimate solution to suicidal ideation. Instead of offering assisted suicide to those with mental illnesses, we need to provide better mental health care and support to those who are suffering.
Action Items: Visit CareNotKill.ca for more information on all of these action items:
- Advertise on city buses or billboards
- Send an EasyMail
- Distribute Care not Kill pamphlets around your neighbourhood
- Write a letter to the editor
- Sign a petition
Status: At Committee in the Senate.
Description: Makes it illegal to make pornography accessible to young persons online and requires pornography companies to verify the age of potential viewers of pornography.
Analysis: This bill strengthens the prohibition of minors’ access to pornography by creating fines of up to $250,000 for the first offence and $500,000 for subsequent offences. Pornography companies cannot claim that they did not know the age of the pornography consumer (e.g. plead ignorance) as a way to get out of the fine but must verify the age of any potential pornography consumer. For more about this bill, read Age Verification Bill Reintroduced in the Senate.
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Status: Completed first reading in the House of Commons.
Description: Places a duty of care on social media operators to protect young people against online threats. Seeks to give parents the tools to manage their children’s privacy and safety online. Finally, the bill would update the Criminal Code to include prohibitions on online criminal harassment and the sharing of false intimate images created through artificial intelligence technology.
Analysis: Bill C-216 recognizes the need to hold social media operators accountable, to give important tools to parents to protect their children online, and to combat false intimate images through criminal prohibitions. Young people face many threats online, also with regard to pornography and sexual exploitation. This bill is a helpful step in combatting such threats.
Articles:
Action Items: EasyMail
Status: No longer active due to prorogation of Parliament.
Description: Regulates a wide variety of online harms including child pornography, non-consensual pornography, hate speech, promoting genocide, and promoting anti-Semitism. This includes once again adding hate speech as a violation of human rights under the Canadian Human Rights Act. This offence (Section 13) was removed from the Human Rights Act by the previous Conservative government.
Analysis: The provisions that propose to restrict access and dissemination of pornography are positive policies that ARPA has called upon in our policy report on pornography. However, addition of hate speech provisions in Canada’s Human Rights Act will likely lead to less freedom for Christians to proclaim the truth of God’s Word in the public square.
Articles: “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back in Online Harms Bill”
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