I'll start, and I'm going to address the committee in French.
The Regroupement des CALACS is an organization representing 30 centres for providing assistance in and combating cases of sexual assault. Our assistance centres have been in existence for 30 years and focus mainly on sexual assaults committed against adult women and adolescent girls.
My remarks will essentially concern three subjects. We have discussed Bill C-22 with youths that enter the CALACS. They clearly found it hard to understand certain things. If Bill C-22 were passed, it would be hard for them to determine in which circumstances they would be in an illegal situation, if only to know when mistaken belief would become inadmissible. These concepts are not easy for youths to understand. In our opinion, the additions made by Bill C-22 should be backed by structural steps to ensure that the new amendments to the bill are known and clearly understood.
The expression “non-exploitative sexual activity” is used in a number of places in the bill. This suggests that there is an age at which people can start to agree to be sexually exploited. In fact, the bar is set at 18 years of age. That concerns us very much and, in our view, is not consistent with promoting egalitarian values. The problem didn't start when Bill C-22 was introduced, but the fact remains that the bill does not correct the exploitative nature of the situation among persons over 18 years of age. We think there is work to do in this regard. For example, I will say that the concept of a minimum age has been in our Criminal Code for a long time, but that has never prevented people from starting to engage in prostitution.
For us, the problem is greater than the mere question of age. You have to consult qualified people and conduct research in order to understand why certain adults exploit children. Perhaps we will subsequently have to change the age of consent, but first we need to gain a better understanding of predatory behaviour and the causes of the sexual exploitation of children.
Will Bill C-22 protect these individuals from sexual predators? We fear it will create an illusion of protection. As we somewhat jokingly ask in our groups, what predator asks to see the ID of his potential victim. That's a bit cynical, but it's a fact that you note when you meet with youths who have been the victims of predatory behaviour.
If the purpose is to send more criminals to prison or to extend their stay there, the fact remains that society will not change if more structural measures are not taken. What do we mean by more structural measures? We think it praiseworthy that Bill C-22, in its present form, provides for a five-year exemption to protect the right of adolescents to disclose a sexual relationship.
In our view, however, that entails other rights, the right to receive information, sex education, sexual prevention courses, the right to condom distribution, access to abortion and so on.
In our opinion, if Bill C-22 is passed as is, the rights that must be preserved go beyond the right to sexual expression. It must cover much more than that.