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Protecting Victims Act

Bill C-16, Protecting Victims Act · Time allocation motion · now law Where it stands

The House debated a time allocation motion for Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, a bill that would amend criminal and correctional laws, including creating an offence of coercive control toward an intimate partner, expanding first-degree murder designations in cases of femicide, tightening rules around sexual offence trials and delay, and updating victims’ rights. The justice minister said the House had studied the bill sufficiently, that amendments from multiple parties were accepted, and that passing it quickly would protect victims, citing femicide rates and harms from AI-generated fake intimate images. Conservatives opposed cutting off debate, saying the Liberals once opposed time allocation themselves and that the government was limiting witnesses and debate at committee; some Conservatives also raised mandatory minimum sentences, the notwithstanding clause, Bailey’s law in the Senate, and terminology about child sexual abuse material. The Bloc Québécois also objected to the government’s repeated use of time allocation, while a Green member supported the bill but regretted her amendments on elder abuse were not accepted and asked for separate legislation on that issue. A portion of the exchange went to accusations between the parties over delaying tactics at committee.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

1 statement

Gord Johns

NDP
“The government should not rush debate on this bill. We need to focus on stopping violence before it happens. I want the minister to explain when the government will fund prevention, like anti-bullying in schools, mental health care, housing, and workplace training.”
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, we all want to prevent discrimination and violence in this country, but fast-tracking and shutting down debate is not going to help improve this legislation. We have a lot of important questions. We do not want to wait until there are complaints, tribunals or criminal sanctions after the fact. We want to talk about what we are going to do to prevent it. We have not heard from the minister or the government on how they are going to invest in anti-bullying in schools; in mental health supports for vulnerable youth; in housing and homelessness, which is something that we have heard is clearly important on this; in community-based violence protection; in support for victims of hate incidents and discrimination; and in training in federally regulated workplaces, which is under the purview of the federal government and the minister, before complaints happen. We have a lot of questions that have not been addressed by the government. Can the minister explain when the funding is going to come in on prevention, instead of it happening after the fact?

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