Bills

Summary

Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights report

Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Report

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to, among other things,

(a) provide direction to peace officers, justices and judges when they apply the principle of restraint;

(a.‍1) provide that a person must not be named as surety if the person was convicted of an indictable offence within ten years prior to a release order;

(b) require a justice, before making a release order or a detention order in respect of an accused, to consider whether the accused is charged with an offence in the commission of which random and unprovoked violence was used or attempted;

(c) require a justice to impose a condition prohibiting the possession of a firearm or other weapon, and to consider imposing other conditions, when making a release order in respect of an accused charged with the offence of extortion or any offence involving a criminal organization;

(d) require a justice to consider imposing certain conditions when making a release order in respect of an accused charged with an offence of motor vehicle theft or with the offence of breaking and entering a dwelling-house;

(e) create a reverse onus provision for any accused charged with the offence of motor vehicle theft involving violence, motor vehicle theft for a criminal organization, extortion involving violence, breaking and entering a dwelling-house, certain offences related to trafficking in persons or human smuggling, certain offences in the commission of which violence was allegedly used and that would constitute the accused’s third or subsequent such indictable offence or certain offences in which an accused is alleged to have choked, suffocated or strangled a complainant;

(f) expand the reverse onus provision to any person charged with a serious offence involving violence and the use of a weapon who has been previously convicted, within 10 years, of a serious offence involving violence and the use of a weapon;

(g) add the number or gravity of any outstanding charges against an accused as circumstances that a justice is to consider in assessing whether the detention of the accused is necessary to maintain confidence in the administration of justice;

(h) expand the circumstances in which the release documents that an accused is subject to may be cancelled, provide for circumstances in which they can be cancelled and allow for the review, by the court of appeal, of decisions to cancel such documents;

(i) create a reverse onus provision for any person who has been found guilty of certain offences if the prosecutor applies to vacate that person’s interim release order;

(j) create new aggravating factors to address repeat violent offending, offences against first responders, retail theft and theft, mischief to property offences and assaults against public transit employees;

(k) add new consecutive sentence provisions for repeat violent offences, motor vehicle theft offences and breaking and entering offences, and extortion and arson offences;

(l) require courts to give primary consideration to denunciation and deterrence of repeat motor vehicle theft offences, repeat breaking and entering offences and organized crime offences;

(m) restrict the possibility of imposing conditional sentence orders for sexual assault, and offences of a sexual nature or committed for a sexual purpose that involves a victim under 18 years of age;

(n) restore the availability of driving prohibitions for the offences of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing bodily harm or death; and

(o) improve the administration of justice as it relates to sentencing by increasing the penalty for contempt, enhancing the fine enforcement regime and expanding the availability of remote appearances in the mental disorder regime.

It also amends the Department of Justice Act to provide that the Minister must prepare an annual report on the state of judicial interim release in Canada.

It also amends the Youth Criminal Justice Act to, among other things,

(a) clarify the definition of “violent offence” to mean, among other things, an offence in the commission of which a young person causes bodily harm or involving the use or trafficking of a firearm;

(b) provide that the time a young person is unlawfully at large does not count towards time served for a youth custody and supervision order;

(c) enable police officers to publish identifying information about a young person in urgent situations where there is an imminent danger to public safety;

(d) clarify the process for the detention and release of young persons who are remanded for an alleged breach of a condition of their youth custody sentence while awaiting a review by the youth justice court;

(e) set out a period of access for records of extrajudicial measures, other than extrajudicial sanctions, and clarify the rules for records of investigations kept by police that did not result in a charge or extrajudicial measures; and

(f) make several technical sentencing amendments.

It also amends the National Defence Act to, among other things,

(a) improve the administration of military justice as it relates to sentencing by increasing the penalty for contempt;

(b) require courts martial to give primary consideration to denunciation and deterrence of offences involving criminal organizations; and

(c) create new aggravating circumstances to address repeat violent offending, offences against first responders, stealing for commercial purposes and certain property offences.

Finally, the enactment also includes transitional provisions and coordinating amendments.

The full text of the Bill.

Sponsor: Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser