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Bill S-212

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Second Session, Forty-third Parliament,

69 Elizabeth II, 2020

SENATE OF CANADA

BILL S-212
An Act to amend the Criminal Code (disclosure of information by jurors)

FIRST READING, October 27, 2020

THE HONOURABLE SENATOR Boisvenu

4321923


SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to provide that the prohibition against the disclosure of information relating to jury proceedings does not, in certain circumstances, apply in respect of disclosure by jurors to health care professionals.

Available on the Senate of Canada website at the following address:
www.sencanada.ca/en


2nd Session, 43rd Parliament,

69 Elizabeth II, 2020

SENATE OF CANADA

BILL S-212

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (disclosure of information by jurors)

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

R.‍‍S.‍‍, c. C-46

Criminal Code

1Section 649 of the Criminal Code is replaced by the following:

Disclosure of jury proceedings

649 Insertion start (1) Insertion end Every member of a jury, and every person providing technical, personal, interpretative or other support services to a juror with a physical disability, who discloses any information relating to the proceedings of the jury when it was absent from the courtroom that was not subsequently disclosed in open court is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Exceptions

Insertion start (2) Insertion end Insertion start Insertion end Insertion start Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of the disclosure of information Insertion end for the purposes of

  • (a)an investigation of an alleged offence under subsection 139(2) in relation to a juror Insertion start ; Insertion end

  • (b)giving evidence in criminal proceedings in relation to such an offence Insertion start ; or Insertion end

  • Start of inserted block

    (c)any medical or psychiatric treatment or any therapy or counselling that a person referred to in subsection (1) receives from a health care professional after the completion of the trial in relation to health issues arising out of or related to the person’s service at the trial as a juror or as a person who provided support services to a juror.

    End of inserted block

Health care professional

Start of inserted block

(3)For the purpose of paragraph (2)‍(c), the health care professional who provides medical or psychiatric treatment or therapy or counselling must be entitled to do so under the laws of a province.

End of inserted block

Coming into Force

Ninety days after royal assent

2This Act comes into force on the 90th day after the day on which it receives royal assent.

Published under authority of the Senate of Canada



EXPLANATORY NOTES

Criminal Code
Clause 1:Existing text of section 649:

649Every member of a jury, and every person providing technical, personal, interpretative or other support services to a juror with a physical disability, who, except for the purposes of

  • (a)an investigation of an alleged offence under subsection 139(2) in relation to a juror, or

  • (b)giving evidence in criminal proceedings in relation to such an offence,

discloses any information relating to the proceedings of the jury when it was absent from the courtroom that was not subsequently disclosed in open court is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.


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