Bill C-244

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First Reading

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	SUMMARY
	Part I of this enactment provides that a justice may issue a warrant authorizing a peace officer to require a qualified medical practitioner to take, or cause to be taken by a qualified technician, samples of blood from a person in order to determine whether the person carries the hepatitis B virus or the hepatitis C virus or a human autoimmunedeficiency virus, if the justice is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that
	(a) the applicant came into contact with a bodily substance from another person while the applicant was engaged in the performance of a designated function in relation to that person, or the applicant was assisting or trying to assist the person believing that the life of the other person was in danger, or that the person had suffered or was about to suffer physical injury;
	(b) by reason of the circumstances in which the applicant came into contact with the bodily substance, the applicant may have been infected by a virus referred to above;
	(c) by reason of the lengthy incubation periods for diseases caused by these viruses and the methods available for ascertaining the presence of such viruses in the human body, an analysis of the applicant's blood would not accurately determine, in a timely manner, whether the applicant had been infected by such a virus that might have been present in the bodily substance with which the applicant came into contact; and
	(d) a qualified medical practitioner is of the opinion that the taking of samples of blood from the person mentioned in the warrant would not endanger the life and health of the person.
	For the purposes of Part I of this enactment, ``designated function'' means a function performed by a firefighter, qualified medical practitioner, or a person whose profession is to care for sick people.
	Part II of this enactment amends the Criminal Code and provides for the same procedure as the one described in Part I.
	However, for the purposes of Part II of this enactment, ``designated function'' means a function performed by a peace officer or a security officer or any act committed under section 494 of the Criminal Code or in order to lawfully assist a peace officer.