OTTAWA, June 25, 2007 – The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., MP for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced that Bill C-18, a series of technical amendments to strengthen Canada’s DNA data bank laws, received Royal Assent on Friday, June 22.
“DNA data has helped protect Canadians by leading to countless convictions of offenders who might never have otherwise come to the attention of the police,” said Minister Nicholson. “The changes that have been made through C-18 will be of great benefit to law enforcement in their efforts to apprehend criminals, to prosecutors in trying alleged offenders and to the courts in determining guilt or innocence.”
To make the procedures surrounding DNA data banks more effective, Bill C-18 includes amendments to:
Add attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder to the offences covered by the retroactive provisions (which apply to offenders convicted of a single murder, sexual offence or manslaughter prior to June 30, 2000, when the legislation that enabled the creation of the National DNA Data Bank came into force);
Permit a retroactive hearing where the person is still under sentence for one of the defined offences rather than requiring that the person is serving a sentence of two years for that offence;
Make it an offence to fail to appear for DNA sampling – similar to the existing offence for failing to show up for fingerprinting;
Allow a court to set a hearing to determine whether a DNA order should be made within 90 days after sentence is pronounced;
Make it clear that a warrant for the arrest of a person who failed to show for DNA sampling can be executed and the bodily substances taken by any Canadian police force that arrests the person; and
Allow the law enforcement agency authorized to take a DNA sample to authorize another law enforcement agency to do it on its behalf when the offender has moved to or been incarcerated outside its jurisdiction.
Since taking office, Canada’s New Government has taken action to make streets and communities safer by introducing legislation to: toughen laws against street racing; restrict house arrest, for serious crimes; increase mandatory penalties for serious gun-related crimes; reverse the onus in bail hearings for firearm-related offences; better fight alcohol- and drug-impaired driving; and raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 years to protect youth from adult sexual predators.
For an online version of the legislation, visit www.parl.gc.ca.
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For more information:
Geneviève Breton
Director of Communications
Minister’s Office
613-992-4621
Media Relations Department of Justice Canada
613-957-4207
