Introduction

Introduced as Bill S-12, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act (the Act), received Royal Assent on October 26th, 2023.

This Backgrounder describes the policy intent behind the Act as it relates to the sex offender registration regime and provides a detailed examination of changes made to the regime by the Act. It does not contain information about other key provisions of the Act, such as those relating to publication bans and those enhancing victims’ rights to post-sentencing information, which were enacted to empower victims and survivors of crime. This document should not be considered legal advice.

Former Bill S-12 enacted a targeted set of reforms with two primary objectives related to the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR):

  1. to respond to the October 28, 2022 Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision in R v. Ndhlovu;
  2. to strengthen the NSOR regime by addressing challenges relating to its operation and enforcement that have been identified by federal, provincial, and territorial partners responsible for its administration.

For further information on the former Bill, readers may wish to consult the LEGISinfo website, which includes links to major speeches and to committee proceedings in the Senate and the House of Commons, available at: https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/s-12. For further information relating to publication bans and other victim-related issues, readers my wish to refer to the Justice Canada website’s page on Victims of Crime: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/victims-victimes/factsheets-fiches/pdf/pb-eng.pdf