Bill C-334 (Historical)

Prevention of Torture Act

An Act prohibiting the commission, abetting or exploitation of torture by Canadian officials and ensuring freedom from torture for all Canadians at home and abroad and making consequential amendments to other Acts

This bill was last introduced in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session, which ended in March 2011.

This bill was previously introduced in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session.

Sponsor

Dawn Black  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of March 5, 2009
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment strengthens Canada's protection against torture by making it a criminal offence to use information known to be derived from torture; prohibiting Canadian officials from handing over prisoners to be tortured at home or abroad; creating a government watch list of countries known to engage in torture and providing for those countries to be treated accordingly in matters relating to information-sharing and deportation and extradition from Canada; placing a duty on officials to report knowledge of torture to the proper authorities; and establishing diplomatic protocols for the immediate repatriation of any Canadian citizen at risk of torture abroad, without undermining our ability to investigate and prosecute those citizens in Canada.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Prevention of Torture ActRoutine Proceedings

March 5th, 2009 / 10 a.m.
See context

NDP

Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-334, An Act prohibiting the commission, abetting or exploitation of torture by Canadian officials and ensuring freedom from torture for all Canadians at home and abroad and making consequential amendments to other Acts.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to reintroduce this important piece of legislation which unfortunately, although it came very close, did not make it to a vote in the last Parliament before the election was called.

I appreciate the help and support of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association which gave me a great deal of help in drafting the bill.

The bill is a comprehensive attempt to address the issue of torture. It makes it a criminal offence to use information known to be obtained using torture. It stops any officials from Canada from transferring prisoners into the hands of those who are suspected or known to use torture. It creates a government watch list of countries that are known to engage in torture. It prevents the use of national security provisions as a measure to withhold information about torture, which happened for months during the Afghan detainees scandal last year.

I urge all members of the House to join together to reject torture in all its forms and to support this very important bill.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)