The government introduced Bill C-63 on February 26, 2024. The bill has three main sections. The first enacts the Online Harms Act, setting up a new regulatory framework with responsibilities for online platforms and creating a new Digital Safety Commission and a Digital Safety Ombudsperson. This framework is focused on seven categories of online harm: intimate content communicated without consent and content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor, bullies

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls issued a call for input on the approaches and actions that states should take to effectively protect women and girls from all forms of violence. The Special Rapporteur wanted the input as part of making a June 2024 report to the UN Human Rights Council on the global phenomenon of prostitution and violence against women and girls. The EFC submitted a six-page brief discussing the violence inherent in pro

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta asked for feedback on its policy on conscientious objection by Jan. 15, 2024. One of the proposed changes introduces “effective referrals” into the policy. Many doctors object to ending the lives of their patients through euthanasia and would object to providing an effective referral for it. The EFC made a three-page submission, which you can download as a PDF.

The EFC submitted a three-page brief on MAID for mental illness, to the Special Joint Parliamentary Commitee. This brief (aussi disponible en français) calls the government to halt or at least to a delay of the planned March 2024 expansion to allow legal euthanasia for reasons of mental illness alone without any additional safeguards. Download the bilingual EFC brief

The EFC calls attention to significant problems with the Canada Summer Jobs program in a six-page submission to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of People with Disabilities.The submission concludes: Canada Summer Jobs is a vital program that benefits many Canadians – the youth who are employed, the organizations that hire them and the communities they serve. Many faith-based organizations participate in the CSJ program an

Bill S-263 would require the federal government to maintain and update a national strategy to combat human trafficking. It specifies that the national strategy must include measures to empower and support survivors, increase prevention efforts, and increase the capacity of the justice system to identify and prosecute human trafficking cases. Senator Ataullahjan introduced Bill S-263 on May 9, 2023. Related resources Sample letter you can send to your MP (PDF, Docx)

Bill S-224 is a private members bill that was introduced in the Senate by Senator Salma Ataullahjan. It would have removed the requirement that a trafficking victim, or a person in those circumstances, must demonstrate they feared for their safety or the safety of a loved one. The bill would also have moved into the definition the additional considerations that exploitation includes coercion, the use or threatened use of force, deception, the abuse of a position of trust, pow

The EFC made a three-page submission to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its study on Human Trafficking of Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People. The EFC brief shared statistics on trafficking and discussed the connection between prostitution and sex trafficking. It recommended the government develop a permanent national strategy to combat trafficking, among other policy recommendations. Download it here.

The EFC and the World Evangelical Alliance have again jointly submitted a brief in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Canada. (See the previous EFC/WEA submission from 2017.) Our 2023 UPR stakeholders report provides information to the international community on how Canada is meeting its human rights obligations and makes recommendations on how Canada can promote and protect human rights in Canada in the areas of: protection of persons with disabi

Bill C-314 would exclude a mental disorder from being considered a grievous and irremediable medical condition for the purposes of Medical Assistance in Dying. This would mean that no one would be eligible for MAID for mental illness alone MP Ed Fast introduced Bill C-314 in the House of Commons on February 10, 2023. Update: A vote on Bill C-314 was held Oct. 18, 2023. Bill C-314 was defeated 167-150, but an improvement compared to a similar vote in 2021 that was 184-148. Ple

Bill C-311 would make the abuse and harm of a pregnant woman a factor for judges to consider in sentencing. It would signal that harming a pregnant woman is a serious crime and may mean a longer sentence for those who commit violence against a pregnant woman. MP Cathay Wagantall introduced Bill C-311 in the House of Commons on January 31, 2023. It would specify that, in sentencing decisions, courts should consider whether offenders abused women they knew to be pregnant or cau

The EFC made a submission to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) consultations in November 2022. The EFC asked the CPSO to make sure that discussions about MAID are only initiated by patients, not doctors. The EFC also asked the CPSO to protect doctor’s conscience rights and to push for MAID to be included as the cause of death on death certificates. The consultations were on the CPSO Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) and Human Rights in the Provision of

A private member’s bill would change references to “child pornography” in the Criminal Code to the more accurate term “child sexual abuse material.” MP Mel Arnold introduced Bill C-291 in the House of Commons on June 17, 2022. The term “child pornography” is inaccurate and harmful. Sexually explicit images and videos depicting children are child sexual exploitation, assault and abuse. Terms like “child pornography” risk normalizing, trivializing and legitimizing the sexual

Bill C-270 would require those making or distributing pornographic material for a commercial purpose to verify the age and consent of each person depicted. It would also make it illegal to distribute pornographic material if the person depicted has withdrawn their consent. Bill C-270, known as the Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act (SISE), is a private member’s bill introduced by MP Arnold Viersen on April 28, 2022. The SISE Act would implement the second recommendat

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2023 - See new EFC government submission on MAID for mental illness, below A special joint committee of MPs and senators is recommending making minors eligible for medically hastened death. Their February 2023 report also recommends allowing advance requests, thus opening medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to people no longer able to consent. The committee’s report recommends but doesn't require the government to make these changes to the law. A group of docto

Bill C-230, the Protection of Freedom of Conscience Act, was a private member's bill introduced by MP Kelly Block on Nov. 22, 2021. Bill C-230 would have made it a criminal offence to coerce someone to participate in medical assistance in dying. This bill was debated and defeated in the House of Commons in October 2022. Although it didn’t pass, it raised an important discussion of conscience issues and concerns. Resources Sample letter to use in contacting your MP about these

Canada’s prostitution laws were reviewed by a parliamentary committee in early 2022, with a report published in late June. See the EFC's response released in July 2022, and also see below for materials related to the anticipated Oct. 2022 CASWLR court case. The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) recognizes that prostitution is inherently exploitive and dangerous. It has the goal of ending the demand for paid sex. Under PCEPA, buying sex and pimping ar

The Justice Minister introduced Bill C-5 on December 7, 2021. Among other things, the bill would change the Criminal Code to repeal mandatory minimum sentences for some offences and to allow for greater use of conditional sentencing. One of the bill’s provisions would allow conditional sentencing, also known as “house arrest,” for the trafficking of persons for material benefit. The EFC is concerned that allowing a lesser penalty for a human trafficking offence sends the mess

On October 29, 2024, the government announced plans to introduce legislation related to charities that offer pregnancy options counselling. In a news conference outlining their plans, ministers used language that disparaged and mischaracterized pregnancy care centres as deceptive. The EFC is concerned about the mischaracterization and targeting of pregnancy care centres and the politicization of charities. In a ministerial mandate letter released on December 16, 2021, the p

UPDATE: The new bill to ban conversion therapy, Bill C-4, received royal assent Dec. 8 and passed into law January 7, 2022. It was rushed through both the House of Commons and Senate in just over a week, a process that usually takes months. The EFC is preparing an analysis of the bill’s impact. This bill is similar to the previous ban, proposed in former Bill C-6, which died at the election call. Bill C-4 extends beyond the previous ban by, among other changes, proposing a ba