Prime Minister Stephen Harper, centre, cabinet ministers and victims advocates were in Toronto to announce that tough new legislation to protect children will be launched this fall.
Stephen Harper says Ottawa has cracked down on sex offenders since 2006
Stephen Harper plans to introduce legislation this fall that he says will better protect children from sexual predators, who will receive much tougher sentences under the new laws.
The Prime Minister made the announcement in Toronto. He says his government intends to make Canadian streets and communities safer by cracking down on predators who abuse and exploit children.
“New legislative amendments will be introduced this fall to better protect children from a range of sexual offences, including child pornography, while ensuring that offenders receive tougher sentences,” Stephen Harper.
According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office, over 3,900 sexual violations against children were reported to police in 2012, an increase of three per cent from 2011.
The proposed amendments to Canadian legislation include.
- Requiring those convicted of child pornography and related offences to serve their sentences consecutively – one after another. This would apply particularly to offenders who have victimized multiple children
- Increasing maximum and minimum penalties for child sexual offences
- Increasing penalties for violation of conditions of supervision orders
- Ensuring that if a crime was committed while on parole or statutory release, it would be a mandatory factor in sentencing
- Ensuring that the spouse of a person charged with child pornography offences could be obliged to testify in court
The annoucement was welcomed by the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
“Longer sentences deter someone from committing future offences” Executive Director Lianna MacDonald told the Globe and Mail.
“For children, it is very, very difficult to navigate the criminal justice system. … When they do tell someone, really, the criminal justice system is stacked against them.”
MacDonald said forcing spouses to testify in cases of child sexual assault is a good idea.
“When you have instances when you have an actual parent offending against their child, that child is in a far more precarious situation because the person is in a position of trust,” she said. “So, when you look at the rights of children to be safe and protected, and we look at the role of a parent, we would say that a spouse coming forward and having to proceed on that front is very important.”
Stephen Harper says that since 2006 the Conservatives have put forward a number of measures to better protect children, including strengthening the sex offender registry, increasing the age of protection from 14 to 16 years old, eliminating house arrest for criminals who commit serious and violent offences including for all child sexual offences, 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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