History of Law Reforms in Canada

• Author: Loree Armstrong Beniuk, Jo-Anne Hughes, and Jack Reynolds
• Pages: 87-98

87

History of Law Reforms in Canada

Following the accused’s guilty plea to oences of sexual interference with a young

child and attempted extortion of the child’s mother, the sentencing judge imposed

a six-year sentence for sexual interference and a concurrent six-year sentence for

attempted extortion. . . .

e Court of Appeal found that the sentencing judge had erred in principle by

applying the [minimum sentencing] starting point, which presumed the existence

of a trust relationship, when the sentencing judge had found that there was none.

e Court of Appeal conducted a fresh analysis and reduced the sentence to four and

one-half years’ incarceration . . . .

e Crown appealed to the Supreme Court [which then restored] the sentence

imposed by the sentencing judge for sexual interference.

— Case Alert from R v Friesen, 2020 SCC 8 (38300) (8 April 2020)

In this chapter we provide a brief history of law reforms in Canada relating

to sexual of‌fences against children. The criminal justice system in Canada

comprises three major agencies: the police, the courts, and the correctional

system. Each is guided by criminal law, which has four main sources: the

Canadian Constitution, including the CanadianCharter of Rights and Free-

doms;1 statutes, which include the Criminal Code;2 caselaw (which requires

the judiciary to follow previous decisions in similar cases); and administra-

tive law (laws wrien and enforced by regulatory agencies given that power

by government).

The power to enact statute law in Canada is divided among the fed-

eral government (Parliament), the provinces, and the municipalities. Only

eleven