Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his speech on Bill S-12, and I assure him that New Democrats will do everything we can to move the legislation forward expeditiously. However, we want to take a close look at it to make sure we get it right.
The minister emphasized the Supreme Court deadline, but I would like to emphasize that there are prosecutions of women who have violated publication bans happening in this country. There was a very famous case in 2021, where a woman had been sexually assaulted by a relative. When she made this fact known to other friends and family, to help keep them safe, she was prosecuted and given a fine of $2,000 and a victim surcharge of $600 for violating a publication ban.
I believe there is also an urgency in getting this done so that we do not end up with the gross injustice that happened in this case, of a victim being fined for trying to keep others safe and having to pay a victim surcharge on top of that fine, when she herself was the victim of the crime.