NEWS RELEASE
October 25, 1995 For Immediate Release
BREITKREUZ INTRODUCES BILL FOR CRIMINAL TRANSMISSION OF HIV/AIDS
"The wilful and reckless transmission of HIV/AIDS should be a criminal offence."
Ottawa - Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, introduced his second Private Member's Bill in the House of Commons which would create two new criminal offences for any person who wilfully or recklessly infects another person with HIV. Breitkreuz' bill was seconded by Reform Justice Critic, Jack Ramsay, Member of Parliament for Crowfoot in Alberta and co-sponsored by a number of Reform MPs. "We are acting on the advice of researchers in the Library of Parliament who analyzed existing criminal offences and prosecutions for the transmission of HIV. They recommended that a specific criminal offence for the reckless and wilful transmission of HIV is necessary if criminal convictions are to be obtained in the courts," reported Breitkreuz.
If enacted, Breitkreuz' bill will create two new offences related to the wilful or reckless acts by a person infected with HIV or a person who has AIDS. If the act results in infection with HIV, the offence is criminal infection with the maximum sentence of imprisonment for life (the same maximum penalty now imposed for manslaughter). The rationale being that victims infected with HIV face a life of fear of contracting AIDS and certain death if they do. In the event the infection with HIV is not proven, the offence is reckless infective behaviour punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years. Consent is often an issue in prosecutions under other provisions of the Criminal Code and this creates problems for the courts. For example, the question of whether the victim consents to the sexual act (transmission) is sometimes clouded by duress or emotional stress and whether the consent was properly informed as to the outcome and risk. In my bill we have avoided these problems by a clause which provides that consent is not a defence to the two new offences.
"This past summer during a tour of the Saskatchewan Penitentiary the guards expressed concerns that neither the guards nor the other prisoners were aware of inmates who were HIV positive or even those who are diagnosed with AIDS. In the absence of mandatory testing of all prisoners for HIV, prisoners have to be aware that there are serious consequences if they knowingly transmit HIV to another prisoner, guard or even a partner. My bill would improve the possibility of obtaining a conviction of anyone who knowingly infected another person with HIV, thereby exposing their victim to the fear and risk of contracting AIDS and certain death if they do," concluded Breitkreuz.
For a copy of this bill and research paper please call:
Ottawa: (613) 992-4394