An Act to amend the Criminal Code (victim protection)

This bill, Bill C-292, makes several changes to the Criminal Code aimed at strengthening protections for victims, particularly in cases involving human trafficking and sexual offences. For trafficking offences, it adds a new fine of up to $100,000 that can be imposed in addition to existing prison sentences, and it requires that sentences for trafficking-related offences be served consecutively (one after another) rather than at the same time as other sentences the person is facing. It also removes the current requirement that a trafficking victim show they had a "reasonable fear" in order to prove the offence occurred, making it easier to secure convictions in such cases.

The bill also changes some court procedures. It clarifies that when a judge orders a witness to testify outside the courtroom (for example, to protect a vulnerable witness), that testimony can take place in a different building altogether, not just a different room in the same courthouse. It also expands the list of serious offences — including various sexual offences against children, sexual assault, and human trafficking — for which an accused person can no longer request a preliminary inquiry (a pre-trial hearing to test the evidence before a full trial).

Finally, the bill broadens when a video recording of a victim describing what happened to them, made shortly after an alleged offence, can be used as evidence in court. Previously this applied in narrower circumstances; now it applies more broadly to victims of sexual offences, as long as the victim confirms the recording's accuracy while testifying and the judge doesn't believe using the video would harm the fairness of the trial. The judge can also restrict other uses of such a recording.

This bill amends the Criminal Code's human trafficking offences, witness-testimony rules, preliminary inquiry eligibility, and video-evidence admissibility provisions.

• Fines for trafficking offences — courts may impose a fine of not more than $100,000 on anyone convicted of trafficking in persons (section 279.01), trafficking of a person under 18 (section 279.011), or related material-benefit and document-withholding offences (sections 279.02, 279.03), in addition to existing prison terms, which remain up to 14 years with a minimum of two years for receiving a material benefit from trafficking a minor, and up to 10 years with a minimum of one year for withholding documents related to trafficking a minor.
• Consecutive sentencing — a judge sentencing someone for trafficking-related offences (sections 279.01 to 279.03) must have that sentence served consecutively to any other sentence arising from the same events or already in effect, removing judicial discretion to order concurrent sentences in these cases.
• Location of witness testimony — a judge who orders a witness to testify outside the courtroom may specify a location in a different building, a power that was previously undefined in the text.
• Preliminary inquiries unavailable — accused persons charged under a listed set of offences (including sexual offences and trafficking offences) cannot have a preliminary inquiry held, even if the accused or prosecutor requests one; this removes a procedural option that previously existed regardless of either party's wishes.
• Admissibility of victim video recordings — in proceedings involving sexual offences where testifying could endanger a victim's physical or mental health, a video recording made within a reasonable time after the alleged offence, in which the victim describes the acts, becomes admissible as evidence once the victim adopts its contents while testifying; the presiding judge retains discretion to exclude it if admission would interfere with the proper administration of justice, and may also prohibit any other use of the recording.
• Judicial discretion left undefined — the bill does not specify criteria for what counts as interference with "the proper administration of justice" or for restricting "other use" of a video recording, leaving these determinations to the presiding judge or justice on a case-by-case basis.