Thank you, Mr. Chair.
People don't always know what “PV” stands for. It stands for “Parti vert”.
This again is an amendment suggested by the evidence of UNICEF. The amendment is to clause 9 of the bill, but changes the act in proposed sections 293.1 and 293.2 and expands the scope of offence and criminality to those who participate, celebrate, or aid in any way at this event. The concern of UNICEF, of course, and I'll just quote from their brief:
If a child can be forced into marriage, they can also be forced into celebrating, aiding, or participating in a forced marriage. We recommend that children and youth be exempt from the measures set out in the proposed new sections 293.1 and 293.2 of the Criminal Code, and the proposed amendments to subsection 14(2) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
What my two-part amendment does is exactly as UNICEF suggested. I've inserted a minimum age into proposed section 293.1 where there wasn't a minimum age before, and I've changed the minimum age in proposed section 293.2 from 16 years to 18 years in an attempt to protect children from being inadvertently scooped up in criminality by participating in a larger family event for which one cannot imagine that they should have any criminal consequences.
Protecting children is the goal of my last amendment.