GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO STAND UP FOR VICTIMS OF WHITE-COLLAR CRIME

MONTREAL, May 3, 2010 – The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, today announced that the Government re-introduced legislation to provide tougher sentences for fraud, to help combat white-collar crime. 

“Our Government is standing up for victims of white collar-crime,” said Minister Nicholson. “Our legislation would make jail time mandatory – at least two years for fraud over $1 million. It would toughen sentences further, by adding aggravating factors courts can consider.”

These aggravating factors would include:

• the financial and psychological impact of the fraud on the victim, given the victim’s particular circumstances, including their age, health and financial situation;
• the offender’s failure to comply with applicable licensing rules or professional standards; and
• the magnitude, complexity, and duration of the fraud and the degree of planning that went into it.

“White-collar crime has a devastating impact on individuals and communities,” said Minister Paradis. “Our government has listened to the concerns of victims of fraud. We are taking action to help them seek restitution and to ensure their voices are heard in sentencing those who have harmed them so profoundly.”

The proposed legislation would require judges to consider demanding offenders make restitution to their victims in all fraud cases. It would permit the court to prohibit the offender from taking employment or doing volunteer work involving authority over other people’s money. The court would also be permitted to receive and consider a Community Impact Statement that would describe the losses suffered as a result of a fraud perpetrated against a particular community, such as a neighbourhood, a seniors’ centre or a club. 

Backgrounder: White Collar Crime

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Ref.:

• Pamela Stephens
  Press Secretary
  Office of the Minister of Justice
  613-992-4621
  
  
• Media Relations
  Department of Justice
  613-957-4207