moved for leave to introduce Bill C-354, an act to amend the Criminal Code (transmission of HIV).
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce my second private member's bill today, seconded by the hon. member for Crowfoot and co-sponsored by a number of my colleagues.
If passed by Parliament, my bill will improve the possibility of obtaining a criminal conviction of anyone who knowingly infects another person with HIV, thereby exposing the victim to the fear and risk of contracting AIDS and certain death if he or she does.
If enacted, my bill will create two new offences related to wilful or reckless acts by a person infected with HIV or a person who has AIDS. If the act results in infection with HIV, the offence is criminal infection, with a maximum sentence of imprisonment for life, the same maximum penalty now imposed for manslaughter. The rationale is that victims infected with HIV face a life of fear of contracting AIDS and certain death if they do. In the event the infection with HIV is not proven, the offence is reckless infective behaviour, punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years.
Consent is often an issue in prosecutions under other provisions of the Criminal Code, and this creates problems for the courts. For example, the question of whether a victim consents-