Bill S-12

An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act

Status

This bill has received Royal Assent and is, or will soon become, law.

Summary

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

This enactment amends the Criminal Code , the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act to, among other things,
(a) require compliance with the Sex Offender Information Registration Act for persons who are convicted of an offence of a sexual nature against a child and for persons who have been convicted on separate occasions of two or more offences of a sexual nature;
(b) require other persons who are convicted of, or receive a verdict of not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder for, an offence of a sexual nature to comply with that Act unless a court is satisfied that doing so would have no connection to the purposes of that Act or that the impact on the person of doing so would be grossly disproportionate to those purposes;
(c) provide that an order to comply with that Act as a result of convictions, or verdicts of not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder, for two or more offences of a sexual nature that are dealt with in the same proceeding — or an obligation to comply with that Act as a result of convictions, or such verdicts, for two or more offences of a sexual nature — does not apply for life if a court is satisfied that the offences do not demonstrate a pattern of behaviour showing that the person presents an increased risk of reoffending by committing such an offence;
(d) authorize a peace officer to obtain a warrant to arrest a person who has contravened any of sections 4 to 5.1 of that Act and bring them to a registration centre to remedy that contravention; and
(e) clarify the obligations in section 6 of that Act respecting the notice that sex offenders who plan to absent themselves from their residence must provide.
The enactment also amends the Criminal Code to, among other things, codify the process for modifying and revoking publication bans, and add a requirement for sentencing courts to inquire into whether the victim of an offence would like to receive information about the administration of the offender’s sentence and, in the affirmative, provide the Correctional Service of Canada with the victim’s contact information.

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.

Votes

Oct. 5, 2023 Passed 2nd reading of Bill S-12, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act

Justice and Human Rights Committee, on Oct. 5, 2023

  • Joanna Wells, Acting Senior Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
  • Matthew Taylor, General Counsel and Director, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice
  • Megan Stephens, Criminal and Constitutional Lawyer, Megan Stephens Law, As an Individual
  • Morrell Andrews, Member, My Voice, My Choice
  • Suzanne Zaccour, Director of Legal Affairs, National Association of Women and the Law

Justice and Human Rights Committee, on Oct. 17, 2023

  • Robin Parker, Counsel, As an Individual
  • Colton Fehr, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University, As an Individual
  • Janine Benedet, Professor of Law, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
  • Pam Hrick, Executive Director and General Counsel, Women's Legal Education and Action Fund
  • Benjamin Roebuck, Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime, Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime

Justice and Human Rights Committee, on Oct. 19, 2023