Stock photo courtesy of Mel Arnold / Facebook

By Liam Verster

Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Material

Local MP’s bill to rename child pornography as abuse material progressing

Sep 18, 2024 | 6:00 AM

A federal bill sponsored by the Member of Parliament for North Okanagan-Shuswap is moving along.

The bill, C-291, initiated with the help of Mel Arnold in June of 2022, seeks to replace the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse and exploitation material.”

In a written statement Arnold said the new term is “more accurate and appropriate.”

The bill passed House of Commons review with unanimous support from all parties, and on Wednesday, Sept. 18, it will be presented to the Senate Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for further review.

“After waiting 19 months for the Senate to review C-291, I am hopeful that tomorrow the Senate committee will complete its review and move this important proposal towards completion,” Arnold stated.

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“The House of Commons has agreed that words matter, and this bill is an important step in strengthening our laws and how we as a society perceive and treat sexual offences against and exploitation of children, and I hope the Senate committee will issue strong unanimous support tomorrow.”

Arnold will be joined by Frank Caputo, MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, for the Senate committee review Wednesday.

“My prior life as a Crown prosecutor introduced me to the injustice of the term ‘child pornography,’” Caputo said.

“It has bothered me that we equate pornography, which is consensual among adults, with what is clearly child abuse of the worst order. Children cannot consent. Full stop. I therefore look forward to the speedy passage of this bill through the Senate so that this antiquated and incorrect language can be corrected. Victims are depending on legislators to make this change. The time for inaction has come and gone; the time for action is now.”

Once reviewed, the bill will be reported to the Senate Chamber, where it will need to pass Report and Third Reading stages. If it’s amended during those stages, then the bill will need to be sent back to the House of Commons for further review.