Backgrounder

Strengthening and Updating the Criminal Law

Through this initiative,amendments that will improve Canada’s criminal procedure and sentencing as well as clarify court-related language rights provisions have been proposed to the Criminal Code. The intent of the Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Criminal Procedure, Language of the Accused, Sentencing and Other Amendments) is to further modernize the criminal justice system and make it more efficient and effective. Some of the amendments make certain processes more effective through greater use of technology and by consolidating and rationalizing existing provisions. The majority of these reforms respond to issues that were identified by, and developed in collaboration with, provincial and territorial justice partners across Canada.

Criminal Procedure :

The amendments relating to criminal procedure in Canada provide for, among other things:

• the use of a means of telecommunication to forward warrants for the purpose of endorsement and execution in a jurisdiction, other than the jurisdiction where the search warrant was obtained;
• changes to the process with respect to the challenge of jurors to, among other things, assist in preserving their impartiality;
• summary dismissal by a single judge of the court of appeal when an appeal has erroneously been filed with that court;
• an appeal of a superior court order with respect to things seized lying with the court of appeal;
• a summary conviction trial with respect to co-accused that can proceed where one of the co-accused does not appear; and
• the reclassification of the offence of possession of break and enter instruments into a dual procedure offence to allow the Crown to determine whether this offence should be prosecuted by way of indictment or by the more expeditious procedure of summary conviction.

Another amendment modernizes Criminal Code offences relating to betting, pool-selling and book-making by clarifying that these offences can be committed by using any communication technology and by providing that the exemption with respect to pari-mutuel betting applies where the pari-mutuel betting system is accessed by any communication technology.

Sentencing:

Amendments related to sentencing provide for, among other things:

• the power to order an offender not to communicate with identified persons while in custody and the creation of an offence for failing to comply with the order, thereby enhancing protection of victims;
• clarifications with respect to the application of impaired driving penalties;
• an increase of the maximum fine that can be imposed for a summary conviction offence from $2,000 to $10,000;
• the suspension of a conditional sentence order or a probation order during an appeal;
• the power to delay the sentencing proceedings so that an offender can participate in a provincially approved treatment program;
• in the case of a person serving a youth sentence who receives an adult sentence, to clarify that the remaining portion of the youth sentence is converted to an adult sentence; and
• the power of a court to order, on application by the Attorney General and after convicting a person of the offence of luring a child by means of a computer system, the forfeiture of things used in relation to that offence.

Language Rights:

Other amendments will allow for better implementation of the language rights provisions in the Criminal Code. These amendments will improve the means through which an accused is informed of the right to be heard by a judge or a judge and jury who speak the official language of Canada that is the language of the accused, or both official languages of Canada. The amendments also codify the right of the accused to obtain a translation of the information or indictment on request. Other provisions clarify the application of the language provisions of the Criminal Code in the context of bilingual trials.

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Department of Justice Canada
June 2006