Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity, and I thank my hon. colleague.
My private member's bill, Bill C-242, proposes an addition to the Criminal Code of a charge of inflicting torture. We do have a charge on the books now as it stands in our Criminal Code, which is a torture offence that applies to acts of torture carried out by state officials, but there is no offence in our Criminal Code that would recognize equivalent acts carried out by private individuals operating in the private realm, who are not state officials. This has happened in the past, and there are many instances and examples.
The bill I have proposed is a measure to boost the public safety of Canada, but also to do so in a way that underlines human rights principles and enshrine those further in the Criminal Code of Canada. When we protect human rights, we increase public safety.
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in article 5, condemns torture. Our Criminal Code condemns torture but only in part, and it needs to go one step further.
I thank my hon. colleague for allowing me to sum up the bill for colleagues who might not know about it at this stage.