Stronger Laws
The Government of Canada continues to be serious about making our communities safer by tackling crime. That’s why the first piece of legislation introduced in the new session of Parliament is Bill C-2, the Tackling Violent Crime Act.
The Tackling Violent Crime bill would:
- Establish longer minimum prison sentences for individuals who use firearms to commit crimes. The message is clear: using guns to commit crimes will not be tolerated.
- Raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years, targeting those who prey sexually upon children.
- Allow for stricter conditions, and for more effective sentencing and management of dangerous and high-risk offenders, in order to enhance public safety and better protect Canadians.
- Strengthen the laws against impaired drivers, to protect the lives of innocent people from those who drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- Shift the onus to the person accused of serious gun crimes to explain why they should not be denied bail.
Mandatory Prison Sentences
Under the proposed reforms, people who use a firearm when committing a serious offence would receive a very tough sentence. If an offence is gang-related, or if a restricted or prohibited firearm such as a handgun is used, the minimum penalty would be:
- five years on a first offence
- seven years if the accused has one prior conviction involving the use of a firearm to commit an offence
Other firearm-related offences would also be subject to higher minimum penalties. For example, firearms trafficking and smuggling, or the new offence of breaking and entering to steal firearm, would result in minimum penalties of:
- three years on a first offence
- five years if the accused has a serious prior firearm-related conviction
Age of Protection
The legislative proposals would raise the age at which youth can consent to sexual activity from 14 to 16 years. A five year close-in-age exception is included in the legislation to ensure that consensual teenage sexual activity is not criminalized.
The proposed revision to the age of consent recognizes the threat of adult predators, which has been amplified with the use of new technologies such as the Internet. By raising the age of protection by two years, the government is targeting those who sexually prey upon some of society’s most vulnerable individuals.
This new age of protection will bring Canada’s age of consent into conformity with that of many other like-minded countries and represents the shared objective of all provinces and territories of Canada who are committed to protecting youth against sexual exploitation.
Dangerous and High-Risk Offenders
In the past, Canadians have heard about known dangerous and high-risk offenders who have re-offended because laws were not strong enough to stop them.
Under the proposed reforms, the Criminal Code of Canada would be strengthened by toughening the Dangerous Offender provisions, and creating much stronger Peace Bond provisions.
These reforms will help to better manage and control dangerous offenders, in order to protect Canadians from known individuals who are at a high risk to re-offend.
Impaired Driving Reform
The problem of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving is extremely serious in Canada, where impaired driving is responsible for more than 1,000 deaths each year.
While impaired driving is already a Criminal Code offence that can result in severe penalties, the new laws will make life even tougher for those who choose to drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The reforms will make it easier for police to investigate, and for prosecutors to prosecute, impaired driving cases. There has not been a penalty increase for impaired driving since 1999, and the new law will sharply increase fines and minimum jail terms for driving while impaired.
Most importantly, these legislative reforms will focus on drug-impaired driving by authorizing police to demand roadside physical sobriety tests, and bodily substance samples at the police station.
Bail Reforms for Firearm Offences
In order to better protect the public from gun violence, bail reform amendments would shift the onus to the accused persons to explain why they should not be denied bail.
Proposed changes to the bail provisions of the Criminal Code would provide a reverse onus if an accused is charged with:
- any one of eight serious offences committed with a firearm -- attempted murder, robbery, discharging a firearm with intent, sexual assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, hostage-taking, or extortion;
- firearm trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking or firearm smuggling; and
- any indictable offence involving firearms or other regulated weapons if committed while under a weapons prohibition order.
See also:
The government will do even more to tackle crime and make our communities safer for Canadians and their families, including :
- Introducing legislation to establish mandatory jail terms for serious drug crimes.
- Bringing forward effective legislative proposals to combat identity theft.
- Reforming the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Building on our accomplishments
These legislative initiatives will build on the accomplishments of the first session of the 39 th Parliament. Those accomplishments include:
Conditional Sentencing Reform (Bill C-9)
On May 31, 2007, the government’s conditional sentencing reform bill received Royal Assent.
Conditional sentences such as house arrest are sentences of imprisonment that may be served in the community, provided several conditions are met.
Under the new reforms, conditional sentences will be prohibited for offences prosecuted by indictment that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years or more.
These reforms will help ensure a cautious and more appropriate use of conditional sentences, reserving them for less serious offences that pose a low risk to community safety.
See also:
DNA Data Bank (Bill C-18)
On June 22, 2007, the government’s DNA data bank bill received Royal Assent. This legislation will benefit law enforcement by strengthening a powerful crime-solving tool: the National DNA Data Bank. The reforms involve a series of technical amendments to help implement earlier changes to the law, which were endorsed by Parliament in May 2005.
The new legislative changes will make it an offence to fail to appear for DNA sampling. They also add attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder to the list of offences covered by the retroactive provisions (which apply to offenders convicted of a single murder, sexual offence or manslaughter prior to June 30, 2000). In addition, the reforms ensure information provided by the Data Bank can be used to investigate all criminal offences.
See also:
Street Racing (Bill C-19)
On December 14, 2006, the government’s new street racing legislation received Royal Assent, helping ensure safer streets for Canadians. The legislation creates a separate Criminal Code offence of street racing, which includes increased maximum punishments for:
- dangerous driving (no bodily harm or death)
- dangerous driving causing bodily harm
- dangerous driving causing death
- criminal negligence causing bodily harm
- criminal negligence causing death
This new offence also includes escalating mandatory driving prohibitions for people convicted of street racing. These periods of driving prohibition would be in addition to the offender’s prison sentence. For more information on the proposed punishments and driving prohibitions, see: