The only point I would add, as Mr. Moore has indicated, is that there is something of this nature that exists in the United States. In many of the states there is a marriage exception. The exceptions that exist on a permanent basis have been criticized by many as being a way to excuse what is otherwise considered a sexual offence, where the laws of age of consent have been prescribed in a such a way that the accused can bypass them by entering into a married or common-law relationship, as Bill C-22 addresses.
The checks and balances exist within the provinces under their marriage acts dealing with solemnization, and in two provinces and one territory, no one under the age of 16 can marry. In the other ten jurisdictions they can marry under that age only with parental consent and on the approval of a court, for the most part, or in Ontario, Nunavut, and the NWT, with the consent of the minister responsible for marriages.
In each case, the criteria that are stated in their legislation are that it has to be expedient or in the best interest of the young person, or she's pregnant. In that consideration, the court would consider whether or not this consent would authorize what is otherwise prescribed as a sexual assault under the Criminal Code once Bill C-22 comes into effect. That's why Bill C-22 addresses the issue prospectively, so that relationships that exist at the time that Bill C-22 comes into force, be it a married relationship or a common-law relationship, an established one as defined, are protected, notwithstanding that Bill C-22 would otherwise have made it illegal because the partner is more than five years older.
If we look at what stats are available to tell us how often this comes up as an issue, it's true that the director for the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics testified that based on their information, 0.07% of youth aged 15 years were in a married or common-law situation—72 people per 100,000. If we look at estimates from Statistics Canada for 2005 on youth who were age 15--one male and four females--who are legally married, we don't know the age of their partners.
So it is a very rare example of the question that I understand is at the heart of this amendment, and the provinces have the scope under their solemnization of marriage to deal with that within the scope of the close-in-age exception, and in three provinces never allow it.