Protection of children
focus of
federal/provincial/territorial conference
Alberta's push for stronger laws to protect children from sexual predators dominated the agenda at this year's federal/provincial/territorial meeting of ministers responsible for justice.
During the three-day meeting, held in Calgary Nov. 4-6, the federal justice minister committed to legislation he said would tighten Canada's laws around child pornography and sexual exploitation of children.
"There was strong agreement among all justice ministers that we need to do more to protect children, and I'm very pleased the federal government has taken the step it has," said Alberta Justice Minister Dave Hancock.
"However, we haven't seen the legislation yet, so it remains to be seen exactly how effective it will be and how far it will go to addressing our concerns. We look forward to providing input on the legislation and will continue to lobby the federal government for meaningful changes to the laws that help protect children."
Alberta made further progress in its call for a national sex offender registry. The federal government committed to the registry in February but during the November meeting the federal minister outlined specific details of how the registry would work.
"I am very pleased that the federal government is moving ahead with the national sex offender registry," said Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth. "I am also pleased the registry will eventually include photographs. However, we will continue to urge the federal government to make the legislation retroactive. This is essential to ensure the database includes sex offenders who are currently in our justice system who will at some time be released back into our communities. As well we will continue to push for geo-mapping capabilities to ensure an effective tool for police."
Unlike Alberta's high-risk offender web site that is available to the public, the federal registry is based on creating enhancements to CPIC, used only by the police. During the investigation of sex offences, the police officer will be able to instantly obtain a list of sex offenders living in the area.
Alberta believes that raising the age of consent from 14 to 16, while maintaining the two-year close-in-age exception, will help protect children from sexual predators without criminalizing the sexual behaviour of teenagers. There was strong support for Alberta's position among most other provinces. The federal justice minister responded with his promise to create legislation he says will address concerns about the exploitation of youths by adults.
The federal minister also indicated he would bring forward amendments to the Criminal Code that would limit the artistic merit defence in child pornography cases, but provided few details.
Legal aid funding, voyeurism laws, domestic violence, child victims, AMBER Alert, and conditional and intermittent sentences were also discussed during the meeting.
