Federal government overhauls Criminal Code to protect victims, keep kids safe from predators

Sean Fraser

SEAN Fraser, federal Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada, announced on Tuesday the introduction of the Protecting Victims Act, which the government said is one of the most consequential reforms of the Criminal Code in a generation to protect victims and survivors of sexual violence, gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence, and to keep kids safe from predators.

This legislation also responds to long-standing concerns about court delays under the Jordan framework, which limits how long cases can take before they risk being dismissed, sometimes leaving victims without a resolution.

Stop intimate partner violence and femicide

  • Making murder motivated by hate first-degree, including femicide: The Criminal Code would classify murders driven by hate or that occur alongside controlling or coercive behaviour of an intimate partner, sexual violence or exploitation as first-degree murder, even when there was no planning and deliberation. These killings overwhelmingly target women, with intimate partner homicides rising 39% last year and 81% of victims being women.
  • Criminalize coercive control to facilitate intervention before intimate partner violence turns lethal: Abuse often escalates through patterns of control long before physical violence occurs. A new offence would target patterns of coercive or controlling behaviour, giving the justice system the tools to intervene before violence escalates.
  • Modernize sexual violence protections:The proposed legislation would prohibit the distribution of non-consensual sexual deepfakes, increase penalties for the distribution of intimate images without consent, prohibit threats to distribute such images, and increase penalties for sexual assault on summary conviction.

Keep kids safe from predators

  • Put child predators behind bars: This legislation would strengthen mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment for predators who possess or access child sexual abuse and exploitation material, including restoring at least a dozen mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment for a range of child sexual offences that were previously struck down by courts. These changes would ensure that those who prey on our kids face prison time for the most heinous crimes imaginable.
  • Crack down on online sextortion: Kids are being targeted online in a world with threats that are very different compared to a decade ago. This legislation proposes stronger measures to address online sexploitation and child luring, including by criminalizing threatening to distribute child sexual abuse and exploitation material and distributing bestiality depictions, which are known to be used to manipulate children for sexual purposes. The proposed changes would also strengthen Canada’s ability to prosecute predators who sexually exploit children abroad. To give law enforcement and prosecutors the tools they need to stop these crimes and bring perpetrators to justice, the limitation period for the prosecution of offences under the Mandatory Reporting Act would be extended from 2 to 5 years. Online platforms would also be required to preserve data longer, from 21 days to one year.
  • Protect youth from being exploited into criminal activity: Criminal organizations are increasingly pressuring, recruiting, or grooming kids to commit serious crimes on their behalf. This legislation would create a new offence of recruiting youth into crime and toughen sentencing laws so that those who recruit, encourage, or counsel a kid to commit a crime would face a strong response.

The government said that for many victims, the court process itself can be overwhelming and retraumatizing. When cases drag on or are stayed because of procedural delays, victims are left without closure and justice is not served. This legislation would give courts clear guidance on how to deal with court delays, including in sexual assault cases and make clear that a stay need not be imposed in cases of delay. New measures would also improve victims and survivors’ access to information about their case and make testimonial aids more accessible. These changes would help victims feel safer in court, reduce trauma, and ensure they are treated with dignity throughout a process they should never have to endure.

To ensure mandatory minimum penalties remain strong, enforceable, and constitutional this legislation would strengthen all mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, including those in the Criminal Code. It would do so by allowing judicial discretion to order another sentence of imprisonment, where applying the specific mandatory minimum would be grossly disproportionate, except for murder and high treason which carry a life sentence. Jail time would still be required. This approach is designed to protect and preserve mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, while ensuring they continue to apply to the serious crimes for which they are intended. This builds on earlier reforms in Bill C-14, which proposes the removal of house arrest for a range of sexual and child-sexual offences and increased penalties for serious crimes.

This legislation also proposes to increase penalties for sexual crimes, including voyeurism, sexual assault, indecent exposure, non-consensual distribution of intimate images (including sexual deepfakes), and obtaining sexual services from a child, to better reflect the seriousness of the crimes.

 

Quick Facts

  • Research shows that women and girls disproportionately experience the most severe forms of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. Women are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than by any other type of perpetrator.
  • Statistics Canada reports that “in 2024, almost one in six homicide victims (17%) were killed by a spouse or an intimate partner, totalling 100 victims”, an increase from the previous year, which recorded 72 victims of intimate-partner violence. There was also a sharp increase in homicide of a woman by a current or former intimate-partner “from 53 in 2023 to 81 in 2024”.
  • According to police services in Canada, in 2024, there were 349 victims of family violence per 100,000 population, and 356 victims of intimate partner violence per 100,000 population aged 12 and older. In all, there were 142,724 victims of family violence and 128,175 victims of intimate partner violence in 2024. After many years of consecutive gradual increases, rates of family violence and intimate partner violence in 2024 are relatively unchanged compared with 2023.
  • From 2014 to 2021, police services in Canada reported 50,653 incidents of online sexual child exploitation. 72% of the offences related to child sexual abuse and exploitation material and 28% of incidents were “online sexual offences against children (such as luring and invitation to sexual touching)”.
  • Data compiled by Cybertip.ca—Canada’s national tipline for reporting the abuse and exploitation of children online—shows that sextortion is on the rise. Although most sextortion incidents are not reported to the police, it is estimated that an average of seven incidents occur each day, totalling more than 2,600 cases between September 2023 and August 2024.
  • According to Statistics Canada: “Just over one in five police-reported incidents of sexual assault (22%) during the period from 2015 to 2019 proceeded to court. Of these, just under half (48%) resulted in a finding of guilt, and of those, 50% resulted in a sentence of custody. Altogether, 5% of sexual assaults reported to police resulted in a sentence of custody.”
  • This proposed legislation responds to recommendations in the Mass Casualty Commission’s final report, the Renfrew County inquest, the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime’s report entitled Rethinking Justice for Survivors of Sexual Violence: A Systemic Investigation, and various parliamentary reports.
  • On October 29, 2025, the Government of Canada committed $660.5 million over five years for the Department for Women and Gender Equality to ensure sustained progress toward equality and safety for women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. This includes $44.7 million to strengthen federal action in response to gender-based violence in support for populations that are at risk of GBV or underserved when they experience these forms of violence.