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Stronger Victim Rights and Online Abuse Rules

An Act to amend certain Acts in relation to criminal and correctional matters (child protection, gender-based violence, delays and other measures)

Summary

  • Overhauls criminal law to better protect children and address intimate partner violence, including a new offence for coercive control, tougher penalties for certain sexual offences, expanded extraterritorial jurisdiction for child sexual crimes, and a new offence for recruiting youths into crimes.
  • Modernizes sexual-offence procedures to protect complainant privacy and reduce retraumatization, strengthens testimonial aids, curbs self-represented cross-examination of victims in specified cases, and clarifies publication bans.
  • Introduces a structured regime to manage unreasonable court delays that prioritizes alternatives to stays, excludes days caused by late filings, and requires victims be informed of delay applications; expands adult alternative measures and restorative justice to focus courts on serious crime.
  • Tightens firearms licensing and surrender rules tied to domestic violence or stalking, creates contact-prohibition orders post‑conviction, and broadens victims’ rights to timely justice and information across the Criminal Code, Youth Criminal Justice Act, National Defence Act, and Corrections law, including secure digital information-sharing.
  • Requires Internet service providers, including hosting and messaging platforms, to report suspected child sexual abuse/exploitation material and preserve related data, and expands mutual legal assistance to supranational bodies such as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Builder Assessment

Vote Yes

Overall, the bill strengthens public safety and materially improves justice system efficiency, particularly around delay management, victim support, and alternatives to prosecution. While it introduces some new compliance burdens for online services, its net impact advances safety and service delivery without clearly conflicting with economic objectives.

  • Positives: targets child protection and intimate partner violence; codifies delay management that reduces stays; expands alternative measures/restorative justice to use resources where most impactful; improves digital information-sharing and victim rights; clarifies procedures to reduce litigation risk.
  • Cautions: mandatory reporting and one‑year data preservation for Internet services add costs; new firearms ineligibility based on suspicion requires robust procedural safeguards; new offences and sentencing enhancements may increase correctional pressures without concurrent capacity planning.
  • Builder suggestions:
    • Fund implementation: dedicated resources for courts, legal aid, prosecution, and trauma‑informed victim services to meet new timelines and protect Charter rights.
    • Minimize compliance friction: clear technical standards and safe‑harbour guidance for ISP reporting and data preservation to reduce burden on smaller providers while enabling swift enforcement.
    • Guardrails and oversight: transparent appeal standards and reporting for firearms licensing decisions based on suspicion; publish metrics on delay reductions, case throughput, and victim notifications via a public dashboard.
    • Training and technology: invest in e‑filing and case‑management tools for the new evidentiary procedures; provide national training on coercive control, restorative justice, and privacy‑respecting disclosures.

Question Period Cards

What concrete resources and timelines will be provided to courts, legal aid, prosecutors, and victim services so the new 60-day filing rules, expanded hearings, and victim-notification duties do not create new bottlenecks or Charter challenges?

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What are the estimated compliance costs for small and mid-sized Internet service providers under the mandatory reporting and one-year data preservation regime, and what privacy and due‑process safeguards will protect Canadians’ data while enabling swift child protection enforcement?

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How will the government ensure due process and clear oversight when a chief firearms officer denies or revokes a licence based on reasonable grounds to suspect domestic violence or stalking, and what is the appeal pathway and service standard for affected individuals?

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Principles Analysis

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Canada should aim to be the world's most prosperous country.

Primarily a public safety and justice-efficiency bill; any prosperity gains are indirect through safer communities and reduced crime-related costs.

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Promote economic freedom, ambition, and breaking from bureaucratic inertia (reduce red tape).

It streamlines justice processes and encourages alternatives to prosecution, but adds reporting and data-preservation duties on Internet services and new administrative steps, yielding a mixed impact.

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Drive national productivity and global competitiveness.

Faster, more reliable justice can reduce economic drag from case collapses and backlogs, but the link to productivity and competitiveness is indirect.

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Grow exports of Canadian products and resources.

Export growth is not addressed; expanded legal cooperation with supranational bodies aids enforcement but does not materially affect exports.

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Encourage investment, innovation, and resource development.

Public safety improvements can help the investment climate, yet new compliance obligations for digital services could add operating costs; net effect is unclear.

✓

Deliver better public services at lower cost (government efficiency).

Targets court delays, expands alternative measures/restorative justice to relieve dockets, standardizes procedures, and improves victim information-sharing—all likely to improve system efficiency and outcomes.

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Reform taxes to incentivize work, risk-taking, and innovation.

No tax policy changes.

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Focus on large-scale prosperity, not incrementalism.

This is a sweeping justice reform within its domain, but it does not target economy-wide prosperity drivers.

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C-16

PartyMinister of Justice
StatusAt second reading in the House of Commons
Last updatedN/A
TopicsCriminal Justice, Social Issues, Technology and Innovation
Parliament45