Current Status

Royal Assent was given to Bill C-2 on Feb. 28, 2008, making it law in Canada. This bill includes provision to raise the age of protection (consent to sexual activity with an adult) from 14 to 16 years effective May 1, 2008.

The clear intent of this provision in Bill C-2 is to protect children from sexual exploitation by adults. The EFC’s Don Hutchinson made a presentation Feb. 22, 2008 to a Senate committee to address this provision.

The change has been a long time coming.

Most recently it returned to the legislative agenda on June 22, 2006, when the government introduced Bill C-22, The Age of Protection Act. At that time the EFC applauded the initiative. See the EFC's summary of Bill C-22. This Bill was debated in the fall of 2006 and sent to the Justice Committee for consideration. The EFC made a written submission to appear before the Committee and gave an oral submission to the Committee on March 22, 2007. Unfortunately, Parliament was prorogued in June 2007 before the Bill was approved in the Senate so Bill C-22 “died.” Bill C-2 was introduced October 18, 2007.

Canada’s age of consent to sexual activity with an adult has been out of step with the international norm, which is at least 16 years of age. It has also been inconsistent with Canada's legal definition of “child” and that contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as every person under the age of 18 years.

Canada’s current law has a close-in-age exception in Canada’s Criminal Code [Section 150.1(2)] that allows young teens to engage in sexual intercourse with one another without legal implications, so long as there is less than two years difference in their ages. The new legislation maintains this exception. However, we believe children 12 to 14 are too young to understand the emotional and physical consequences of engaging in sexual activity -- including risk of physical damage, risk of pregnancy, increased risk of cervical cancer in women, risk of sexually transmitted disease and risk of long-term psychological damage.

Previous to February 2008, Canadian law permitted a child of 14 to consent to sexual activity with someone older than him or her, no matter the age of their partner. Bill C-2 raised the age to 16, with a close-in-age exception of five years regarding consensual intercourse with 14-15 year olds.

This means that, under the new law, no one over the age of 19 or 20 will be allowed to have sex with teenagers.

There already exists a prohibition against sexual activity with youths under 18 years of age for anyone who is in a position of trust or authority over them or with whom the youth is in a relationship of dependency. This prohibition will remain under the new legislation.

The previous low age of consent left Canadian children vulnerable to child prostitution, child pornography and child abuse. The EFC has repeatedly urged Members of Parliament and the Senate to raise the age of consent, and now applauds the result.

See also the EFC's current initiatives page on age of consent.