Good afternoon, members of the committee. Thank you for giving us the time to share with you the perspective of the Ontario Child Sexual Exploitation Investigators Association, or OCSEIA, on Bill C-16.
Our organization includes law enforcement, members of the private sector and retired Crown attorneys. We bring with us a considerable depth of knowledge and expertise that we feel can assist the committee as it deliberates Bill C-16. There are several sections in Bill C-16 that, if passed, will have a significant impact on the investigation and prosecution of offenders who use the Internet to harm children. It is these sections that we wish to focus on.
First, we would like to emphasize the importance of restoring mandatory minimum sentences for offences in the Criminal Code, particularly child exploitation offences. Because the Supreme Court has struck down mandatory minimum sentences for most online exploitation offences, conditional sentences are available for offenders who seek to prey on children in a sexual manner. It is the position of OCSEIA that nothing could be more unreasonable than allowing offenders who do so much harm to the community to serve their sentences in the community. We would confidently argue that there is no realistic scenario where an individual would be convicted for an online exploitation offence and not merit a custodial sentence. The proposed revisions in clause 63 of Bill C-16 that re-establish mandatory minimums in the Criminal Code with a safety valve built into it is an important step for Parliament to take to send a message that society will not tolerate the online exploitation of children.
Second, we would like to speak to the importance of the proposals in proposed part XV.1 of Bill C-16, which deals with the way courts address unreasonable delay in trials. OCSEIA respects the importance of protecting the rights of citizens as guaranteed by section 11(b) of the charter. However, under the current state of law, the courts have only a single “all or nothing” remedy that results in an entire case being thrown out when, for any number of reasons, the Crown is not able to complete the trial of the accused in what can only be described as an arbitrary time limit. The proposals being put forward in proposed part XV.1 will allow for a more reasonable and just assessment of whether or not the accused was tried within a reasonable time, and will allow for a range of remedies that can be applied that is proportional to the degree in which 11(b) has been infringed upon in a given case.
This is important to members of OCSEIA, since most of our cases are highly complex and require the analysis of huge volumes of data. This data analysis usually occurs after the arrest, while the Jordan clock is ticking. OCSEIA believes there is a high societal interest in seeing online child sex offenders held to account, which means the Jordan timeline assessment must be a realistic one that takes into consideration the complex and unalterable nature of these kinds of investigations.
Lastly, we would like to provide the committee with a sense of how urgent it is to update and reform our laws to deal with the very large and persistent threat that endangers all children in Canada regardless of their social status, background, language spoken or geographic location. In the last decade, the exploitation of children has increased at an exponential rate. Our laws in their current state are simply not sufficient to keep up with this problem.
You don’t need to take our word for it. We would like to share with you the perspective of a sextortion expert that we obtained from his user manual that he recently published, for free, over the Internet. We would like to be clear that when we use the term “sextortion expert”, we are not referring to an Internet safety expert who lectures to parents and kids about how to stay safe online. What we mean by that term is a person who is an expert in committing sextortion offences against, according to him, over 5,000 child victims over seven years.
This offender published an over 100-page how-to manual to teach others how to be successful in victimizing children over the Internet in the most heinous of ways. Having read the manual, I can tell you that he knows what he is talking about. In the intro to his manual, this offender answers a question that some of you might be asking. He states, “But why is sextortion the fastest-growing crime in the modern era? The reason for this is simple: power. Sextortion is an escape from the daily lives of perpetrators who seek to exert control and dominance, and they cannot do that in any other way. By exploiting their intimate photos or videos, they manipulate and blackmail victims into submission, gaining a sense of power and gratification. Additionally, the anonymity provided by the Internet makes it easier for perpetrators to carry out these acts without fear of being caught, further fuelling the growth of sextortion as a crime. Sextortion is much more than the basics; once you successfully acquire an obedient victim who has everything to lose, their fear of being exposed is just the beginning; they become a cyber slave, willing to do anything for you, no matter how difficult and painful the task may be.”
This brutally honest confession from a skilled online offender demonstrates the scale and importance of the task we all face. Canada must do more to catch and deter these offenders and to protect our children. If this is not a top priority for us, what does it say about us as a country?
Thank you. We are happy to take your questions.