The Government is strengthening measures to protect children from sexual offenders, including punishing offenders to the full extent of the law.
In Canada, over 4,200 sexual violations against children were reported to police in 2013, a 6% increase in the rate from 2012. . That is why the Government has brought forward legislation that better protects children from sexual predators at home and abroad.
The Government today announced the coming into force of amendments to the Criminal Code in the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act. The new measures build on the significant work that has already been done to combat child sexual exploitation and protect Canadians from online crime. These new measures include:
- requiring those sentenced at the same time for contact child sexual offences against multiple children to serve their sentences consecutively - one after another;
- requiring those sentenced at the same time for child pornography offences and contact child sexual offences to serve their sentences consecutively;
- increasing maximum and minimum prison sentences for certain child sexual offences;
- increasing maximum sentences for violating conditions of supervision orders; and
- ensuring that committing a crime while on house arrest, parole, statutory release or unescorted temporary absence, is always considered an aggravating factor at sentencing.
Since 2006, our Government has taken strong actions to better protect children, including:
- bringing forward legislation to ensure children are better protected against serious forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, by making it an offence to distribute intimate images of a person without their consent;
- putting in place, through the Safe Streets and Communities Act, new mandatory minimum penalties for seven existing Criminal Code sexual offences, including assault, assault with a weapon, and aggravated assault (where the child is under 16 years);
- making it illegal for anyone to provide sexually explicit material to a child for the purpose of facilitating the commission of an offence against that child - this process is often referred to as "grooming";
- making it illegal to use computers or other means of telecommunications to agree or make arrangements with another person to commit a sexual offence against a child;
- strengthening the sex offender registry;
- increasing the age of protection - the age at which a young person can legally consent to sexual activity - from 14 to 16 years of age;
- putting in place legislation to make the reporting of child pornography by Internet service providers mandatory; and
- strengthening the sentencing and monitoring of dangerous offenders.
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July 2015
Department of Justice Canada
