Skip to content

Good moves in federal crime plans

The executive director of the Children of the Street Society is lauding many of the changes proposed in the Conservative federal government's new Safe Streets and Communities Act.

The executive director of the Children of the Street Society is lauding many of the changes proposed in the Conservative federal government's new Safe Streets and Communities Act.

But Diane Sowden says some important measures are missing and others could be toughened to make youth safer.

"They're trying to keep up with technology," said Sowden, whose group does workshops about youth sexual exploitation to schools and community groups. "We're seeing less [sex trade] on street level and more on line and the laws have not kept up."

The Safe Streets and Communities Act re-introduces reforms that were debated by Parliament during the previous session but never became law. It includes the Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act (former Bill C-54), which proposes increased penalties for sexual offences against children and creates new offences aimed at preventing online sexual luring.

Sowden, who's also a Coquitlam school trustee, said she's pleased to see the crime bill enacting tougher penalties for crimes against children, including longer minimum sentences, an end to house arrest for luring and the removal of pardons for those who commit sex offences against children.

"This is a violent act and house arrest is not enough, especially when technology is in everyone's home and that's where it happened," Sowden said.

But she said she would have liked to have seen laws making it difficult for an older person to have consensual sex with a young teen, noting that the current legislation allows a close-to-age exception of five years; she would like it to be three years.

"A 14-year-old can have sex if its not exploitation with a partner up to age of 19. There is a huge difference between a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old, and there's still the concern about control and power," Sowden said.

Her group is increasingly sought after to deal with issues surrounding the sending of sexual content online, the increasing problem of online luring and other issues. Sowden said many adults don't understand what the law is and many children don't know how dangerous the internet can be.

"They have to start now to educate themselves because with technology, things are changing continuously," Sowden said.

dstrandberg@tricitynews.com