• Correctional Service of Canada Review

  On April 20, 2007, the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety announced the appointment of an independent panel to review the operations of the Correctional Service of Canada as part of the Government's commitment to protecting Canadian families and communities. The Ombudsman provided a written submission and met with the Review Panel. The Ombudsman recommended:

  • More information about offenders for victims of crime
  • Serious consideration of Aboriginal victims' voices
  • Greater care in sharing victim information with offenders to ensure utmost safety

  The Review Panel released its report in October 2007 and said it had, "reviewed CSC's proposed implementation plan to ensure that it was responding to the Government's initiatives to support victims of crime and develop the human resource infrastructure required to deliver timely, accurate information to meet the needs of victims. An important part of the review was consultation with the recently appointed Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, Steve Sullivan."

• Internet-Facilitated Child Exploitation

  The Ombudsman participated in two government consultations to highlight the need for legislative reform that would enhance law enforcement abilities to identify victims seen in child sexual abuse images found online. Unlike other countries, Canada does not have legislation requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to assist police to identify and rescue victims of Internet-facilitated sexual exploitation. Children are left vulnerable to future abuse if police cannot identify Internet users.

  In the fall of 2007, the Department of Public Safety released a consultation document entitled Customer Name and Address Information Consultation, and the Ombudsman provided a written brief and met with the Panel. The Ombudsman recommended that the Minister of Public Safety introduce legislation requiring ISPs to provide customer name and address information to law enforcement agencies investigating Internet facilitated child sexual abuse cases.

  ii) The Minister of Industry released a consultation document in response to the Fourth Report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Ombudsman noted that PIPEDA permits organizations, such as ISPs, to disclose personal information without consent — but they are not required to. The Ombudsman recommended that the Minister of Industry proceed immediately to amend PIPEDA to require ISPs to provide the names and addresses of customers in investigations involving the abuse of children. The Minister made a commitment to amend PIPEDA to clarify that ISPs can legally share the information.

• Restitution for Victims

  In 2003, crime in Canada cost an estimated $70 billion — and the majority of those costs - $47 billion, or 67% — was borne by victims. A sentencing option called restitution – which promotes a sense of responsibility in offenders and their acknowledgement of the harm done to victims — is underutilized and poorly enforced in Canada. The Ombudsman has called on the federal government to review potential restitution options so that more offenders are held accountable to more victims. The Ombudsman has also made a concurrent recommendation that members of the judiciary become better informed about the challenges victims of crime face and the importance of both restitution and victim fine surcharges. The Ministers of Justice and Public Safety established a working group to examine the Ombudsman's recommendations.

• National Sex Offender Registry

  The National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) was created in 2004 to assist police investigations of child abductions and sexual offences. The Ombudsman's office expressed concerns to the Minister of Public Safety about its effectiveness and made several recommendations in order to strengthen its capacity as a useful tool for law enforcement to prevent crimes, protect children, and identify suspects. Currently, in order to access the NSOR, law enforcement personnel must first determine if a specific crime is of a sexual nature. However, time is of the essence in many cases (for instance, in child abductions by strangers) and it is unreasonable to expect that this determination be made before the NSOR is accessed. The Ombudsman believes that access to the registry be enhanced so that frontline law enforcement personnel can access it on a timely and proactive basis, without having to wait for a formal determination whether the crime was sexually motivated. The Ombudsman recommended that the legislation governing the NSOR be reviewed by the relevant Parliamentary Committee in order to improve its capacity as a public safety tool. The Minister of Public Safety requested that the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security review the legislation. The Ombudsman also noted that the Correctional Service of Canada did not always alert the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when registered sex offenders were released from prison. The Minister of Public Safety provided assurance that the Government was taking appropriate steps to improve the NSOR and that there is now an administrative agreement between the Correctional Service of Canada and the RCMP to share information on the release of sex offenders.

Correctional Service of Canada Review

In April 2007, the Minister of Public Safety announced the appointment of an independent panel to review the operations of CSC. The Ombudsman submitted many recommendations to the Review Panel and these concerns were incorporated into their overall report.

CSC is firmly committed to supporting victims of crime and ensuring they have a voice in the federal corrections and conditional release process.

On September 4, 2007, CSC launched the National Victim Services Program. The program represents an enhancement to the level of service CSC staff had already been providing to registered victims of federal offenders, in addition to their other duties.

CSC is also working to ensure that victim services are delivered in a consistent and uniform manner across the country.

Prior to the release of an offender at Warrant Expiry, CSC provides the police with information on the offender’s criminal and incarceration history. The decision to publicly disclose information rests with the local police.

The Correctional Service of Canada continues to maintain a close working relationship with the Ombudsman and other stakeholders.

Internet-facilitated Child Exploitation

In his Report, the Ombudsman highlights the need for legislative reform that would enhance law enforcement abilities to identify victims seen in child sexual abuse images found online. The Ombudsman also recommends that the Minister of Public Safety introduce legislation requiring internet service providers to provide customer name and address information to law enforcement agencies.

Customer Name and Address

As the issue of customer name and address information falls under the responsibility of the Minister of Public Safety, I will ensure that the Minister of Public Safety is made aware of your concerns and that solutions be explored.

In consultation with law enforcement and industry, government officials are examining how best to address this serious issue, including the possibility of legislation in this area. The Government is committed to striking the right balance between protecting public safety while respecting Canadians' right to privacy.

Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography and Subscriber Information

In the annual report, the Ombudsman raises issues regarding the role of Internet service providers (ISPs) in the re¬victimization of children and the ability of law enforcement to get timely cooperation from ISPs in relation to subscriber information when investigating child sexual exploitation cases.

In relation to preventing the re¬victimization of children on the Internet, the Department of Justice has worked in partnership with the Department of Public Safety, law enforcement, other levels of government and the private sector to find practical solutions to this problem. As part of the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet launched in 2004, the Department of Public Safety provides a contribution to the Canadian Center for Child Protection, a non¬governmental organization that manages Cybertip.ca, to act as Canada's national tip¬line for the public to report suspected cases of child sexual exploitation on the Internet.

Cybertip.ca manages Cleanfeed Canada, a project aimed at blocking access by all customers to websites containing child pornography. The list is administered by Cybertip.ca, who, when made aware of a website containing child sexual exploitation, adds the website's address to a list. ISPs who participate in the initiative access the list twice a day and block customer access to these websites. It has been adopted by most of Canada's major ISPs. In fact, almost 90 percent of all Canadian Internet subscribers are covered by the Cleanfeed Canada program, which blocks all known child pornography websites.
The Canadian Coalition against Internet Child Exploitation (CCAICE), which is a coalition of the major service providers in Canada and in government and law enforcement, is attempting to expand the Cleanfeed Canada program to those ISPs that currently do not participate.

These measures are also complemented by additional federal funding in the amount of $6 million per year that was committed in Budget 2007 and allocated in January 2008 to strengthen current activities to combat the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children including to:

• enhance the capacity of the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC) for law enforcement and training, as part of its ongoing efforts under the federal Government's National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet;
• enhance the capacity of the NCECC for law enforcement and training;
• provide increased resources for Cybertip.ca, including public education;
• reinforce law enforcementcapacity to combar the trafficking of children;
• provide for public education, awareness and outreach to combat trafficking of children;
• work with the Canadian Association of Crime Stoppers to launch a national campaign on human trafficking and provide for a central point to report potential cases of trafficking in persons (launched January 15, 2009); and
• conduct research to assess the impact of trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and the impact on aboriginal statis affect their propensity to be victimized.

Recently, the five¬year review for the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), an Act under the responsibility of the Minister of Industry, was completed. There are a number of recommendations which were made by the two reviewing committees. The Government has indicated, in its response to the Committee report tabled in Parliament on October 17, 2007, that it will be seeking to implement a number of recommendations from this review, including a clarification of the requirements in PIPEDA that have been misinterpreted and created unintentional barriers to appropriate disclosure of information to law enforcement. In addition, it may be of interest to note that police across Canada have been using a letter of request for subscriber information with considerable success. The letter, developed by CCAICE, which requests subscriber information or IP information in relation to child sexual exploitation cases, has also been upheld in a number of recent court decisions. However, some of these decisions are currently being appealed.

Restitution of Victims of Crime

Improving the Effectiveness of Restitution Orders

The Ombudsman's report requests that the Government review options for improving the effectiveness of restitution orders so that more offenders may be held accountable to more victims.

The Criminal Code permits a sentencing judge to order an offender to pay restitution to a victim to cover losses associated with the commission of an offence in certain defined circumstances. It is a discretionary sentence which is made in addition to another sentence. Increasing victim satisfaction with restitution orders requires that the orders be imposed in appropriate cases and that the issues regarding enforcement be addressed.

The Government of Canada is committed to helping victims navigate and deal throughout their participation with the criminal justice system including through the appropriate use of restitution orders. We recognize that the process of enforcing restitution orders through civil court can be onerous for victims. As a result, we are working with our FPT colleagues to explore options for improving enforcement of restitution orders, including pilot projects designed to improve enforcement of restitution orders. The Victims Fund is also available to jurisdictions wishing to develop or enhance enforcement schemes or to pursue other options for improving victim satisfaction with restitution.

A Special Working Group on Restitution has been mandated to explore the current law and practice regarding restitution as a criminal sentence; develop options to encourage its use in appropriate cases; and ways of improving the enforcement of restitution orders.

The Ombudsman's report also refers to the need for members of the judiciary to become better informed about the challenges faced by victims of crime and the importance of both restitution and victim fine surcharges. In April 2008, the PCVI hosted a meeting of a subcommittee of the Canadian Association of Provincial Court Justices, which included a discussion of restitution and victim fine surcharge and sought the views of provincial court judges on improving the effectiveness of both.

National Sex Offender Registry

The Government of Canada is committed to enhancing public safety and security by strengthening the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR).

A working group of FPT officials has been undertaking a review of the Sex Offender Information Registration Act, which was initiated following a request from the former Minister of Public Safety and, subsequently, has been a priority for the current Minister of Public Safety, in keeping with the Government's election platform.

Consultation has been undertaken with the provinces/territories, and we will continue to work with our provincial and territorial partners, as they are partners in the administration and enforcement of the NSOR.

The Government of Canada is determined to strengthen the NSOR so that it enhances public safety and becomes a more effective tool for police. We will move forward once consultations are complete.