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CANADA’S NEW GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES LONG-AWAITED BILL TO END HOUSE ARREST RECEIVES ROYAL ASSENT
OTTAWA, May 31, 2007 — The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., MP for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada is pleased that today Royal Assent has been given to Bill C-9, an Act to amend the Criminal Code (conditional sentence of imprisonment). This new law will limit the use of conditional sentences or ‘house arrest’ for serious crimes.
“In 1996, house arrest was introduced as a sentencing option, and as a result many criminals who were charged with serious, violent crimes have been serving their sentence in their homes,” said Minister Nicholson. “Canada’s New Government is committed to ensuring Canadians are safe in their communities, which is why we introduced this legislation to ensure that people who commit serious, violent crimes serve their time behind bars, not at home. Today, we are proud to say that this long-awaited bill has become law.”
Bill C-9 amends section 742.1 of the Criminal Code so as to eliminate the availability of conditional sentences for indictable offences punishable by 10 years or more that qualify as either serious personal injury offences (e.g., sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault or sexual assault with a weapon), terrorism offences or criminal organization offences.
“Despite repeated efforts by this Government to move legislation through the House of Commons, we still have important crime bills that have not yet become law. We are disappointed that the Opposition has not allowed us to bring the rest of our legislative agenda into force,” added Minister Nicholson.
To protect our communities and create safer streets, Canada’s New Government has introduced changes to strengthen the Criminal Code, including:
- Creating targeted, new offences to provide enhanced penalties for the most serious street racing offences (C-19: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (street racing) received Royal Assent in December 2006);
- Increasing penalties for alcohol- and drug-impaired driving;
- Raising the age of consent from 14 to 16 years to protect youth from adult sexual predators;
- Introducing mandatory minimum penalties for serious firearms offences;
- Reversing the onus in bail hearings for firearm-related offences; and
- Creating a presumption of dangerous offender status with respect to certain violent, repeat offenders
Canada’s New Government has also been investing funding in new community safety initiatives, including:
- Strengthening Canada’s national police force by providing the resources to train and hire an additional 1,000 RCMP personnel;
- Securing Canada’s borders by investing in armed border guards and enhanced border security infrastructure;
- Undertaking a full review of Correctional Services Canada to improve the safety of Canadian communities
- Introducing Canada’s first Victims Ombudsman;
- Helping youth at-risk by investing $16 million in community crime prevention programs; and
- Providing $64 million for our National Anti-Drug Strategy.
For an online version of the legislation, visit www.parl.gc.ca.
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