Canada overhauls Criminal Code to protect victims and keep kids safe from predators

From: Department of Justice Canada

News release

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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

December 9, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – Government of Canada

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.

Quotes

“We have heard directly from victims, survivors, and loved ones who were left carrying the weight of a system that asked too much of them and did too little to keep them safe. That cannot continue. These reforms confront the rise in coercive control, respond to the growing violence women are facing, and keep our kids safe from predators. They will make sure people who commit these horrific crimes face real consequences under the law. And at the heart of this work are the voices of victims and survivors, whose strength has shaped every step of this effort.”

The Honourable Sean Fraser, P.C., K.C.,
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

“Addressing gender-based violence takes a coordinated effort across our governments, our communities, and our justice system. These reforms strengthen the tools available to protect women and girls, and to hold offenders accountable. Alongside our broader efforts to prevent violence before it happens, we are building a safer and more just Canada. Above all, we are guided by victims and survivors, whose voices and experiences continue to shape our path forward.”

The Honourable Rechie Valdez,
Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)

“People in Canada deserve action that saves lives and stops the most heinous crimes before they happen. The Protecting Victims Act is a critical step toward ensuring every individual in this country can feel safe."

Patricia Lattanzio,
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

“Victims of crime face significant challenges when navigating the criminal justice system. The reforms proposed in this important legislation will make this system more responsive to the needs of victims by improving victims’ access to information. It also provides better protections for those who are victims of intimate partner violence and children who are exploited in the real world or online. Victims must be treated with respect in our criminal justice system. This bill will help achieve that.”

The Honourable Gary Anandasangaree,
Minister of Public Safety

“We’re strengthening the law because victims and survivors deserve a modern and robust justice system that does more to protect them and keep their communities safe. The comprehensive reforms in this bill are necessary to strengthen our criminal and family justice system and prevent the re-traumatization of victims.”

The Honourable Ruby Sahota,
Secretary of State (Combatting Crime)

"We welcome today’s amendments to strengthen online child protection. Online sexual violence against Canadian children, including online luring, have reached unprecedented levels. Confronting this epidemic is not optional and there is an urgent need to take action.”

Lianna McDonald,
Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection

“These proposed changes to the Criminal Code will be an important additional tool for our collective efforts to end gender-based violence. By including ‘femicide’ and recognising coercive and controlling behaviours, it will help expand legal, political and societal understanding of the continuum of violence survivors continue to face.”

Nneka MacGregor, LL.B.
Executive Director, WomenatthecentrE

Quick facts

  • Research shows that women and girls disproportionately experience the most severe forms of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. Women are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than by any other type of perpetrator.

  • Statistics Canada reports that “in 2024, almost one in six homicide victims (17%) were killed by a spouse or an intimate partner, totalling 100 victims”, an increase from the previous year, which recorded 72 victims of intimate-partner violence. There was also a sharp increase in homicide of a woman by a current or former intimate-partner “from 53 in 2023 to 81 in 2024”.

  • According to police services in Canada, in 2024, there were 349 victims of family violence per 100,000 population, and 356 victims of intimate partner violence per 100,000 population aged 12 and older. In all, there were 142,724 victims of family violence and 128,175 victims of intimate partner violence in 2024. After many years of consecutive gradual increases, rates of family violence and intimate partner violence in 2024 are relatively unchanged compared with 2023.

  • From 2014 to 2021, police services in Canada reported 50,653 incidents of online sexual child exploitation. 72% of the offences related to child sexual abuse and exploitation material and 28% of incidents were “online sexual offences against children (such as luring and invitation to sexual touching)”.

  • Data compiled by Cybertip.ca—Canada’s national tipline for reporting the abuse and exploitation of children online—shows that sextortion is on the rise. Although most sextortion incidents are not reported to the police, it is estimated that an average of seven incidents occur each day, totalling more than 2,600 cases between September 2023 and August 2024.

  • According to Statistics Canada: “Just over one in five police-reported incidents of sexual assault (22%) during the period from 2015 to 2019 proceeded to court. Of these, just under half (48%) resulted in a finding of guilt, and of those, 50% resulted in a sentence of custody. Altogether, 5% of sexual assaults reported to police resulted in a sentence of custody.”

  • This proposed legislation responds to recommendations in the Mass Casualty Commission’s final report, the Renfrew County inquest, the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime’s report entitled Rethinking Justice for Survivors of Sexual Violence: A Systemic Investigation, and various parliamentary reports.

  • On October 29, 2025, the Government of Canada committed $660.5 million over five years for the Department for Women and Gender Equality to ensure sustained progress toward equality and safety for women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. This includes $44.7 million to strengthen federal action in response to gender-based violence in support for populations that are at risk of GBV or underserved when they experience these forms of violence.

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Contacts

For more information, media may contact:

Lola Dandybaeva
Manager of Media Relations
Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
343-549-0347
lola.dandybaeva@justice.gc.ca

Media Relations
Department of Justice Canada
613-957-4207
media@justice.gc.ca

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2025-12-09