Justice committee  To your last point I can't be specific about that definition and so forth. I can just speak to our issue and what we do see. When we look at the two types of crimes we primarily deal with.... And one of the biggest challenges we deal with daily is, as I mentioned, that in much of the imagery of child abuse we process we don't know who the victims are.

Justice committee  I just wanted to reference a situation that happened with us. Over 13 years ago, when we set up Cybertip.ca, it was at the very beginning of the whole onslaught of child abuse material on the Internet. There were no structures set up across the country. We didn't have specialized police units.

Justice committee  I'll let Joe speak, but on the earlier point about the number of qualifications that have been built in, we're pleased to see that type of language used. If there's an opportunity later, I might want to comment on the resource issue.

Justice committee  Yes. I will answer first and then my colleague, Monique, will speak specifically to your question. One of the things our agency has been dealing with over the last number of years is, again, the recognition that most victims of sexual assault or abuse do not come forward. For the ones who do come forward, there are a number of barriers along their criminal justice journey that get in the way of their proceeding.

Justice committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairperson and distinguished members of this committee, I thank you very much for giving our agency the opportunity to provide a presentation on Bill C-32. My name is Lianna McDonald, and I am the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a registered charity providing national programs and services related to the personal safety of all children.

Justice committee  Well, as I think as we stated at the outset, we certainly believe that this bill finds that right balance. From our agency's perspective, we've relied heavily on looking at what has been put forward. We have a very thorough report from the CCSO cybercrime working group. It's our understanding that there have been years of consultations on this issue, so we have had a lot of the right stakeholders around the table over the years, working through some of these sensitive areas.

Justice committee  In closing, we know that the issues youth are facing today are far beyond what we might have imagined. We know that too many young people are suffering silently, and we have lost too many children to suicide, those who felt that there was no way out, no help, and no one who could make a difference.

Justice committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairperson and distinguished members of this committee, I thank you very much for giving our agency the opportunity to provide a presentation on Bill C-13. My name is Lianna McDonald, and I am the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a registered charity providing national programs and services related to the personal safety of all children.

Justice committee  Certainly we look to the separation between retribution and rehabilitation. I think our agency certainly supports mandatory minimums. We appreciate that there have been some inconsistencies. Again, without the data in front of me, I would point to when the child pornography offences first came out post-Sharpe, and conditional sentences were more often given at that point in time.

Justice committee  Well, these are obviously very complex situations. Certainly Ms. Kennedy could speak from her experience working directly with victims. But I would suppose that there are a number of personal dilemmas when families and children are placed in a position in which they have to talk about whether dad goes to jail, and that it would be quite difficult.

Justice committee  Right. Again echoing the comments just made, similar again to what we saw take place after the luring legislation came forward, we're really looking at new tools. These provisions will allow for action to be taken in advance of children being sexually harmed or victimized. So we know that's exactly what we're looking for.

Justice committee  I don't think that we could respond to that question. We're not aware of whether offenders from other countries would look to Canada as an avenue because of more liberties here. We have presented previously only on some of the content issues surrounding child abuse material being hosted and located in Canada, and these practices affect Canada internationally.

Justice committee  I can speak on a few points. In advance of what is now Canada's luring legislation, our organization worked with various law enforcement and provincial governments. You had adults communicating via computers for the purposes of sexually exploiting children. We would get comments from Canadians, families coming in, moms calling in about this type of communication, and they were very upset that nobody could do anything.

Justice committee  We are working towards asking to be the designated agency under Bill C-22.

Justice committee  There is not one yet.