1st Session, 37th Parliament,
49-50 Elizabeth II, 2001

House of Commons of Canada

BILL C-396

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (dangerous child sexual predators)

      Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as Carrie's Guardian Angel Law.

R.S., c. C-46

CRIMINAL CODE

2. The Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after section 273:

Dangerous child sexual predator

273.01 (1) Every one who is convicted of an offence under section 271 (sexual assault), 272 (sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm, or 273 (aggravated sexual assault) in which the victim is a child under the age of sixteen, and who

    (a) has been convicted of any such offence at any time in the previous ten years in different circumstances,

    (b) in the commission of the offence, commits a sexual assault on the victim of the offence on more than one occasion,

    (c) during the events constituting the offence, or immediately before or after the offence, commits a sexual assault on more than one victim,

    (d) is a relative, teacher, custodian, guardian or employer of or otherwise in a position of trust with respect to the victim of the offence,

    (e) in the commission of the offence, acts together with or in the presence of another who is also convicted of an offence under section 271 (sexual assault), 272 (sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm, or 273 (aggravated sexual assault) with respect to the same victim or another victim in the same circumstances, or

    (f) in the same circumstances, is also convicted of an offence under section 279 (kidnapping), 279.1 (hostage taking) or 281 (abduction of person under fourteen) with respect to the same victim,

is guilty of an indictable offence, shall be des ignated as a dangerous child sexual predator and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life.

Minimum punishment

(2) For the purposes of Part XXIII, the sentence of imprisonment for life prescribed by subsection (1) is a minimum punishment.

Double jeopardy

(3) For greater certainty, the pleas listed in section 607 are not available to a person who has committed an offence listed in the part of subsection (1) that precedes paragraph (a) to prevent the court considering an application by the Crown to have the offender convicted of an offence under subsection (1) and to be designated as a dangerous child sexual predator, in relation either to the conviction of the first mentioned offence or in relation to having been convicted previously of an offence as mentioned in paragraph (1)(a), whether or not the previous conviction has been considered before in an application under this section and whether or not the application was granted.

Parole ineligibility

(4) Notwithstanding subsection 120(1) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the court, in imposing a sentence under subsection (1), shall order that the offender serve twenty years of imprisonment before being eligible for release on full parole.