C-334 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Judges Act and the Director of Public Prosecutions Act (orders prohibiting publication of identifying information) – makes it so adult victims of crimes need to consent to any bans on publishing information that could be used to identify them.
Apparently it’s possible to issue a publication ban regarding a victim’s information without consulting or informing the victim, which can lead to the victim accidentally breaking the ban or can leave the impression that the courts are trying to protect the perpetrator. C-334 fixes this by making sure the victim is consulted and consents to any of these bans before the prosecutor requests one.
Criminal Code
First up we’ve got some changes to the Criminal Code, starting with making sure that any adult victims and witnesses involved in a court case are informed of and consent to any court orders made to protect their identity. If an order is made the prosecutor needs to make sure everyone is informed that it’s been created, as well as letting them know about the process to have it changed or revoked.
Which brings us to the other change in the Criminal Code. A new process is put in place that allows adults who are being protected by a publication ban to have that ban removed or modified. If either happens then everyone protected by the ban will be informed that it’s been removed or modified. (Modifying it would be to remove some people from it while leaving others)
Judges Act
C-334 makes a small change to the Judges Act regarding additional training that can be given to judges. It will now include training on the impact publication bans can have on the victims of sexual crimes. (This would come back to what was mentioned earlier about leaving the impression that not identifying the victims is an attempt to protect the perpetrator of the crime)
Director of Public Prosecutions Act
A small change is made to the Director of Public Prosecutions Act to make sure federal prosecutors get training regarding the new rules around publication bans.
Progress
C-334 is currently outside of the Order of Precedence.