Protecting our children from pornographers

Our government is committed to making our streets and communities safe by cracking down on predators that abuse and exploit children. With the recent introduction of Bill C-26, our government is proposing nine new key measures to better protect our children from a range of sexual offences, including child pornography, while ensuring that offenders receive prison sentences that better reflect the serious nature of these offences.

Every day in Canada, children are the victims of sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse causes unimaginable trauma to the lives of children, and often carries profound effects into adulthood and throughout an individual’s life.

In Canada, more than 3,900 sexual violations against children were reported to police in 2012 – an increase of six per cent from 2010. Child sexual exploitation is unacceptable and your government is doing more to deter and punish offenders who exploit and harm children.

This bill will require those convicted of contact child sexual offences against multiple children to serve their sentences consecutively (one after another) and this would also apply to those convicted of child pornography offences.

The bill will increase maximum and minimum prison sentences for certain child sexual offences and increase penalties for those who violate conditions of supervision orders. The bill will also ensure that a crime committed while on house arrest, parole, statutory release or unescorted temporary absence, is an aggravating factor at sentencing of the offender.

The Bill will ensure spousal testimony is available in child pornography cases and require registered sex offenders to report details regarding travel abroad. This reform would also allow officials responsible for the National Sex Offender Registry and the Canada Border Services Agency to share information regarding certain registered sex offenders. This bill would also establish a publicly accessible database of high-risk child sex offenders who have been subject of public notification in other jurisdictions to increase the safety of our communities.

In previous reforms, our government has increased the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16, established mandatory reporting of child pornography by Internet service providers, strengthened the sex offender registry and strengthened the sentencing and monitoring of dangerous offenders with mandatory sentences for seven existing offences of a sexual nature.

It makes me sad that this type of abuse even exists in Canadian society, but you can be comforted to know that your government is committed to the protection of the most vulnerable and precious members of our society – our children.