Bill C-15A, an act to amend the Criminal Code with respect to the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, received royal assent in June 2002. The amendments create new enforcement measures for these new offences.

The Act will extend beyond the offence of possessing and distributing child pornography, to the offence of accessing child pornography. The new amendments also make it an offence to communicate with children via a computer system for the purpose of facilitating or committing certain sexual offences, such as child luring or abduction.

Child Pornography and the Internet
The Criminal Code makes it is an offence to:

• possess any child pornography (section 163.1(4))
• make, print, publish or possess for the purpose of publication any child pornography (section 163.1(2))
• import, distribute, sell or possess for the purpose of distribution of sale any child pornography (section 163.1(3))

Amendments to section 163.1(3), passed in June 2002, include wording such as "transmission" to ensure that an offence applies to the distribution of child pornography over the Internet — including via e-mail, and by posting material on Web sites. A clause will also be added to stipulate that the custodian of a computer system (such as an Internet Service Provider, or ISP) is not guilty of any offence merely for providing the telecommunication facility used by the person committing the offence.

In each case outlined above, child pornography is: an indictable offence, for which any offender is liable to imprisonment for a term up to five or ten years, depending on the offence; or an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Accessing Child Pornography
In the context of the Internet, possession of child pornography usually requires offenders to download material onto a computer hard drive, disk or printer. Section 163.1(4.1) of the Code, added in 2002, makes it an offence to intentionally access child pornography through such means as Internet browsers (section 163.1(4.2). On summary conviction, the maximum penalty is a fine of $2000, and/or imprisonment for up to six months. For an indictment, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for up to five years.

Amendments to subsections 163.1(6) and (7) of the Criminal Code extend the defences of artistic merit, educational, scientific or medical purpose and of serving "the public good," which would apply to existing child pornography offences.

In section 163.1, the term "child pornography" refers to any written material or visual representation, whether photographic, film or video, made by any mechanical or electronic means, that:

• shows or depicts a person who is, or appears to be, under the age of eighteen, engaging in (or depicted as engaging in) explicit sexual activities
  
• has as its dominant characteristic the depiction, for sexual purposes, of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under the age of eighteen years
  
• advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years

Luring of Children on the Internet
In 2002, Section 172.1 was added to the Code to criminalize electronic communication with a person believed to be a child for the purpose of facilitating the commission of sexual offences. Depending on the offence, the requisite age (real or believed) of the intended victim varies from 14 to 18.

Internet luring of children is punishable on summary of conviction. The maximum penalty is a fine of $2000, and/or imprisonment for up to six months. For an indictment, imprisonment is up to five years.

Deleting Child Pornography from Internet Sites
If there is reasonable grounds, a judge can issue a warrant of seizure on any material from a computer system presumed to constitute child pornography. The ISP or custodian of the system may be ordered to remove the material, provide the court with electronic copies of it, and/or provide information on the identity and location of the person who posted it. If the material is proven to be child pornography, the custodian may be ordered to delete the material.

Preventative Orders
To prevent children from being victimized by sexual predators, additional measures have been taken to protect them by identifying various other offences:

• section 161 allows the courts to ban sexual offenders from various activities likely to bring them into contact with children

• section 810.1 also permits the courts to impose such a ban on a person who is not necessarily a proven sex offender, if there is reasonable fear that the person may become a sexual offender

Full Text: Criminal Code