Backgrounder : Legislation Standing up for Victims of Crime Receives Royal Assent

Bill S-6, the Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act, eliminates the faint-hope clause, ensuring that criminals who commit first-degree murder are not eligible for parole until they serve the full 25 years of their sentence. Similarly, offenders serving life imprisonment for second-degree murder are no longer eligible for parole until their parole ineligibility period is served, which could be up to 25 years.
/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2011/doc_32590.html

Bill C-21, the Standing Up For Victims of White Collar Crime Act, includes a mandatory minimum penalty of at least two years for fraud over $1 million. It also toughens sentences by adding aggravating factors that courts can consider. These aggravating factors include:

• if the fraud had a significant impact on the victim, given the victim’s particular circumstances, including their age, health and financial situation;
• the offender’s failure to comply with applicable licensing rules or professional standards; and,
• the magnitude, complexity, and duration of the fraud and the degree of planning that went into it.

/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2011/doc_32600.html

Bill C-22, An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service, applies to suppliers of Internet services to the public, including those who provide electronic mail services, Internet content hosting services, and social networking sites. It requires them to:

• report, to a designated agency, tips they receive regarding Web sites where child pornography may be available to the public; and,
• notify police and safeguard evidence if they believe that a child pornography offence has been committed using an Internet service that they provide.

Failure to comply with the duties under Bill C-22 will constitute an offence punishable by graduated fines.
/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2011/doc_32592.html

Bill C-48, the Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act, allows judges to impose consecutive parole ineligibility periods on individuals convicted of more than one first- or second-degree murder. Under the old system, criminals convicted of multiple murders served their parole ineligibility periods concurrently, meaning that they were eligible to apply for parole after just 10 to 25 years, depending on their sentence.
/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2011/doc_32598.html

-30-

Department of Justice Canada
March 2011