March 23, 2015 – Ottawa, ON – Department of Justice.
Today, Justice Minister and Attorney General Peter MacKay joined by Senator Bob Runciman (Ontario), the Honourable Tim Uppal, Minister of State (Multiculturalism), and Corneliu Chisu, Member of Parliament for Pickering-Scarborough East met with the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Canadian Urban Transit Association to celebrate Bill S-221, which amends the Criminal Code to address assaults against public transit operators.
The Government knows that the highest priority for a government should be to help ensure the safety of its citizens. That is why it supported this new law, introduced by Senator Runciman, to target criminals who assault or commit other acts of violence against public transit operators – which include taxi, train and bus drivers. Any person convicted of assaulting a public transit operator while the victim was performing his or her duties, will now face the possibility of a more stringent punishment as these assaults will be considered aggravating circumstances.
Since 2006, the Government has introduced numerous measures to ensure that the rights of victims were brought back to the heart of the criminal justice system, including introducing Bill C-32, the Victims Bill of Rights Act. It also brought in the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, a law that ensures that courts and review boards make public safety the paramount consideration when making decisions about accused persons found to be Not Criminally Responsible or unfit to stand trial.
To help ensure that the values of Canadians and the safety of the public are taken into account when it comes to the sentencing of violent offenders, the Government has also made changes to the faint hope clause that allowed murderers to apply for early parole, made changes allowing judges to impose consecutive sentences for multiple murders so that each life taken is represented in an offender’s sentence, and most recently announced upcoming legislation to end automatic statutory release for violent repeat offenders.
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