News Release: Local MP’s Bill Progressing Through Senate Review
For Immediate Release
September 17, 2024
Ottawa, ON – A federal bill sponsored by Mel Arnold, Member of Parliament for North Okanagan- Shuswap, is slated to undergo review tomorrow at the Senate Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. The bill, C-291, was initiated in June 2022 and proposes to replace the term “child pornography” in federal laws with the more accurate and appropriate term “child sexual abuse and exploitation material.” Prior to the bill’s progression to the Senate in February 2023, the proposal passed House of Commons review with unanimous support from all parties.
At the Senate committee, MP Arnold will be joined by his Conservative colleague, MP Frank Caputo who represents Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo and drew on his experience as a former Crown prosecutor to initially develop the bill.
“My prior life as a Crown prosecutor introduced me to the injustice of the term ‘child pornography,’” Caputo said. “It has bothered me that we equate pornography, which is consensual among adults, with what is clearly child abuse of the worst order. Children cannot consent. Full stop. I therefore look forward to the speedy passage of this bill through the Senate so that this antiquated and incorrect language can be corrected. Victims are depending on legislators to make this change. The time for inaction has come and gone; the time for action is now.”
After Senate committee review of the bill tomorrow, C-291 will be reported to the Senate Chamber where it will need to pass Report and Third Reading stages. If the bill is amended in Senate stages, it will need to return to the House of Commons for additional review of Senate amendments.
“After waiting 19 months for the Senate to review C-291, I am hopeful that tomorrow the Senate committee will complete its review and move this important proposal towards completion,” concluded MP Arnold. “The House of Commons has agreed that words matter, and this bill is an important step in strengthening our laws and how we as a society perceive and treat sexual offences against and exploitation of children, and I hope the Senate committee will issue strong unanimous support tomorrow.”