Opinion
The Harper Government recently announced the coming into force of the protecting children from sexual predators component of the Safe Streets and Communities Act. Our Government remains committed to keeping our streets and communities safe, protecting Canadians and holding offenders accountable. The sexual exploitation of children is a heinous crime that causes irreparable harm to the youngest and the most vulnerable members of our society.
With the Safe Streets and Communities Act, our Government has taken tough action against child sexual exploitation in any form by toughening all penalties related to these crimes. We are sending a clear message to the dangerous pedophiles who prey on our children: from now on, you will serve jail time.
In particular, this component will establish mandatory prison sentences for seven existing Criminal Code offences such as luring a child, sexual assault, and aggravated assault. As a result, conditional sentences (i.e. house arrest) will no longer be available for any of these offences. Furthermore, this component will increase mandatory prison sentences for nine sexual offences involving child victims, such as possessing, making, accessing or distributing child pornography and sexual exploitation.
In addition, this component of the Safe Streets and Communities Act will create two new offences with mandatory prison sentences that seek to prevent the sexual exploitation of children by making it illegal for anyone to provide sexually explicit material to a child for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a sexual offence against a child (this process is often referred to as “grooming”); or use telecommunications, including the Internet, to communicate with another person to agree or make arrangements to commit a sexual offence against a child
By moving quickly to pass the Safe Streets and Communities Act, we are fulfilling our promise to Canadians to take action to protect families, stand up for victims and hold criminals accountable.
Kyle Seeback, M.P. Brampton West
Tel: 905-846-0076
www.kyleseeback.com
