A/HRC/41/42/Add.1 20. The Canadian Human Rights Act protects against harassment or discrimination based on race, age and sexual orientation. In 1996, it was amended to include sexual orientation as one such prohibited ground. In 2000, Parliament passed bill C-23, which gives same-sex couples the same social and tax benefits as heterosexuals in common-law relationships. Bill C-38, which became the Civil Marriage Act in 2005, provides for samesex couples to be married anywhere in Canada. Most provinces and territories have included sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. 10 In 2017, the Government amended the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code, making gender identity and expression a prohibited ground of discrimination. 21. Canadian federal criminal legislation provides for uniform norms on sexual assault that encompass rape and sexual violence. The Special Rapporteur notes the adoption in 2018 of bill C-51, which is intended to clarify and strengthen sexual assault laws in Canada, including important clarification on lack of consent. 22. In 2018, the Government also introduced bill C-75, which modernizes interim release provisions, requires that attention be given to the circumstances of accused indigenous and vulnerable populations, providing more onerous requirements for offences involving violence against an intimate partner, and increases the maximum imprisonment for repeat offences involving intimate partner violence, also considering intimate partner violence to be an “aggravating factor”. 23. The Criminal Code also contains provisions to protect victims of violence, including domestic violence, by giving criminal courts a wide range of powers to release or detain an accused person, including release conditions such as “no contact” until the trial or appeal (sect. 515). Special consideration is given to the harm that comes from family violence. Because of the nature of the harm, the sentencing provisions of the Code (sect. 718.2) make it an aggravating factor when the offence involves the abuse of a spouse or common-law partner, the abuse of a person under the age of 18 or the abuse of a position of trust or authority. 24. The Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, of 2015 created a new offence under section162.1 of the Criminal Code prohibiting the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. The provinces of Manitoba, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador introduced, respectively, the Intimate Image Protection Act, the Protecting Victims of NonConsensual Distribution of Images Act, which came into force in 2017, and the Intimate Images Protection Act, of 2018. 25. Although the criminalization of violence against women in family, sexual assault and immigration law is an important legal step towards tackling this epidemic, reports by service providers for women victims of violence highlight specific victimization of women who request State protection against violence, which is reflected in an increase in the laying of charges against women who denounce alleged perpetrators whom they know. Service providers have also observed cases in which the requirements of child custody arrangements based on the “best interests of the child” test force women to have continued contact with abusers, ignoring the violence committed by the former spouses. 11 26. To date, six provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut) have adopted specific legislation on family violence designed to complement the Criminal Code and further protect victims of family violence, including by providing emergency intervention and protection orders. Other jurisdictions provide for family violence protection orders under their family law legislation, such as the Family Law Act in British Columbia. Some provinces and territories also provide “non-criminal emergency protection orders” or, if not available, the federal Criminal Code authorizes “peace bonds” that are available in all Canadian jurisdictions. All parts of Canada have 10 11 See www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/rights-lgbti-persons.html. See, for example, Shoshana Pollack, Melanie Battaglia and Anke Allspach, “Women charged with domestic violence in Toronto: the unintended consequences of mandatory charge policies” (Women Abuse Council of Toronto, 2005). 5