OTTAWA – Crime – The Conservatives are focusing on their crime agenda. Federal Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson is making some major and fundamental changes in Canada’s justice system. “Restoring Canadians’ confidence in their justice system has been an important priority for our Government,” said Minister Nicholson.

Conservatives Crime Agenda

“As we move forward to ensure that Canadians have safe streets and communities to live in, our Government will build on our successes of the last seven years to make additional progress to hold criminals accountable, put victims first, protect our children, and make Canada’s justice system more efficient.”

Restoring Confidence in Justice System

The Conservatives are putting forward plans to increase sentencing for gun crime, work to make child predators and child pornographers more accountable for their crimes. 

Backgrounder:

Tackling crime by holding violent criminals accountable for their crimes

• The Government intends to bring forward legislation to further toughen penalties for child sexual offences, as well as to better address the risks posed by known child sex offenders.
• The Government will soon introduce legislation to better protect the public from accused persons who have been found Not Criminally Responsible on account of mental disorder. Such legislation would ensure that public safety is the paramount consideration in these cases.

Enhancing the rights of victims

• The Government will bring forward legislation to implement a Victims Bill of Rights. This will further enhance the Government’s commitment to victims of crime by entrenching their rights into a single law at the federal level.
• The Government will also address the important issue of restitution by facilitating victims’ ability to obtain restitution where they incur losses.