Bill C-221, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (disclosure of information to victims), would amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the start dates set in the Protecting Victims Act. Its stated goal is to ensure that information given to victims about certain offender dates also explains how those dates were determined. These are proposed changes, not provisions shown by the supplied text to be in force.
When victims are given eligibility dates or review dates for temporary absences or parole, the information would have to explain how the dates were determined.
When victims are told the date an offender is to be released on a temporary absence, work release, parole or statutory release, the information would also have to explain how that date was determined.
For information under another part of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the explanation rule would cover unescorted temporary absences or parole. It would also cover dates for unescorted temporary absences, parole or statutory release, and escorted temporary absences if the Parole Board has approved them as required by the Criminal Code.
The bill would change when parts of the Protecting Victims Act come into force. The explanation requirements in sections 1 and 2 of this bill would start when specified provisions of that Act start: one year after this bill receives royal assent, unless the Governor in Council sets an earlier date by order.
Victims receiving the listed information: The disclosure would have to include an explanation of how the relevant dates were determined. The bill does not say victims would receive explanations about other information.
Officials making these disclosures: They would have to include the explanations when providing the listed dates. The supplied text does not specify who would prepare them or how.
Offenders and the general public: The bill would not itself change eligibility dates, release dates or release decisions. It adds an explanation requirement to certain information disclosures.
The Corrections and Conditional Release Act and the full Protecting Victims Act were not supplied, so the bill’s changes cannot be checked against all current disclosure rules or the wider effects of changing that Act’s start dates.
The bill does not set requirements for the explanation’s detail, format or timing beyond requiring it to accompany the listed information.
It does not set out a process for requesting an explanation, correcting one, or challenging it.
The text specifies when sections 1 and 2 begin, but does not state when section 3 itself comes into force.
The bill does not define what counts as an adequate explanation. The requirement might therefore be applied differently in different cases.
It does not specify who prepares the explanations or provide a process for resolving questions or errors.
The work needed to prepare explanations could have costs, but the bill provides no estimate.
The start of the explanation requirements depends on provisions of the Protecting Victims Act taking effect, so the requirements would not necessarily begin when this bill receives royal assent.