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

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

Disclosure of jury proceedings

649 (1) 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

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

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

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

• (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.

Health care professional

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