More than 40 police services across Canada led a coordinated assault this week against child pornographers and predators across the country. 54 people were arrested, a million images and videos were seized, and five children were rescued in one of the largest such operations in Canada’s history.
RCMP officials cite the growing challenge of tracking down on child predators and child porn, who are taking advantage of new encryption and cloud-based services to hide their true identity.
Regrettably, the punishments for these crimes are often lacking. “Sexual interference,” “invitation to sexual touching,” and “sexual exploitation” carry maximum sentences of 10 years, and other crimes like “distribution,” and “possession,” carry sentences with a maximum of less than 5 years. Thankfully, aggravated sexual assault against a child carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, but a minimum of just 5 years.
Indeed, all the above offences carry minimum sentences ranging from 90 days to two years, a time frame in my opinion too short for some of the most awful offences against Canada’s most innocent.
Last November, Justice Minister Peter MacKay announced increases to mandatory minimums for sexual crimes against children, increasing them from 45 days to 90 days, and 18 months to just under two years. These minimums give room for judicial discretion, while setting a lower bar of acceptable punishment.
In the words of Justin Trudeau, translated from French, “minimum sentences, they are important in some cases,” and “there is nobody in this house of commons who wants to be anything but extremely tough on criminals who molest children,” a statement that all of us in Canada can surely agree with.
Regrettably, not everyone agrees with Justin Trudeau, for example, Justin Trudeau the day prior, when asked if he would “rule out repealing mandatory minimums for sexual crimes against children,” said, “No I would not rule out repealing mandatory minimums for anyone,” after voting against the bill which increased mandatory minimums for child predators.
For the rest of us, I’m happy that these five children were rescued, and I hope that the perpetrators serve the sentences they deserve.