Thank you, Mr. Dechert.
I think your community, the Peel region, which I've had the pleasure to visit on a number of occasions, and where I've participated with you in public events and round tables, is reflective of a view held in many communities.
We've heard of the high-profile tragedies of cyberbullying and the resulting terrible ripple effect it has had. Yet, at the same time we've identified gaps in the criminal law, which this particular legislation means to fill. Similarly, the accompanying effort to empower the police to be able to enforce and essentially to have the effect that is desired.... By creating a new criminal offence around the distribution of intimate images, as well as this enabling legislation, this bill is meant to respond to these needs, and to do so, as you suggested, in a preemptive way akin to a peace bond. It does because when we see escalated behaviour online and the ongoing pernicious effect of bullying, which used to be confined to a schoolyard or to a playground, it now literally follows a young person home, into the classroom, and into every walk of their life, and has such a humiliating and devastating effect on them. We know that young people are in some ways more susceptible to this because of social pressures. This is a pressing concern that we are attempting to address here.
We've consulted broadly on this. I talked about federal-provincial-territorial consultation, but we've heard from many groups. I suspect you will hear from very informed and, in some cases, very emotional people who will come here and testify about how this has affected them and their families. So we're doing this in a way that we hope conforms with the intent of other bills, including the victims bill of rights, which you and members of this committee, we hope, will have a chance to examine in the near future. We're doing this consistent with other legislation aimed specifically at protecting children from sexual abuse, including luring and the very dangerous type of entrapment that often occurs online.
So there is a consistency and a theme here of protection and prevention that runs through this bill and other legislation I've referenced.
Thank you for that question.