Child Pornography Law (Canada)
Child pornography law in Canada seeks to combat the exploitation of minors through the creation, distribution, and possession of explicit sexual materials involving individuals under the age of eighteen. Established after recommendations from the Badgley and Fraser Committees in the 1980s, the law was solidified in 1993 following a Supreme Court ruling that upheld obscenity laws. The law defines child pornography broadly, encompassing photographic, visual, and written materials depicting minors in sexual contexts, and imposes strict penalties for those involved in its production or distribution, with prison sentences of up to ten years. Exceptions exist for materials deemed to have artistic, educational, or scientific merit, where judges can exercise discretion. A notable case in 1993 involving artist Eli Langer sparked significant public debate about the balance between freedom of expression and the need to protect children, ultimately resulting in the dismissal of charges against him. The legislation emphasizes the importance of safeguarding minors from sexual exploitation while navigating complex issues of artistic expression and societal values.
Subject Terms
Child Pornography Law (Canada)
Enacted: 1993
Place: Canada (national)
Significance: This amendment to Canada’s criminal code and customs tariff laws defined and criminalized child pornography
In August, 1984, Canada’s ministers of health and justice appointed a body known as the Badgley Committee to investigate sexual offenses against children and youths as part of a government program to regulate pornography and prostitution. The committee recommended new legislation that would punish importation of child pornography and using children to produce, manufacture, sell, or distribute pornography with prison sentences of up to ten years. The following spring another body, the Fraser Committee, called for even stronger actions against child pornography in its own report, which recommended that purveyors of child pornography be subject to the severest punishments. The Fraser Committee report advised criminalizing the inducing, inciting, or coercing of persons under eighteen years of age to participate in explicit sexual acts, as well as the possession of adult pornography with the intent to sell it.
Legislative efforts to incorporate the recommendations of the Badgley and Fraser committees into law regulating child pornography failed in 1986 and 1987. However, the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1992 Rex v. Butler ruling, which upheld the constitutionality of the obscenity provisions in the Criminal Code, provided the momentum necessary to introduce a bill in May, 1993, that defined and criminalized child pornography. Both houses of Parliament quickly passed this bill; it received the Royal Assent on June 23, 1993, and was proclaimed in force on August 1, 1993.
Canada’s 1993 Child Pornography Law defines child pornography as any photographic, film, video, or other visual depiction of persons who are—or who are depicted as being— under the age of eighteen engaged in explicit sexual activities. Included in the law’s definition is any written or visual material that advocates or counsels sexual activity with persons under the age of eighteen years. Persons who make, print, publish, import, distribute, sell, or possess for purposes of publication or sale child pornography may be guilty of indictable offenses and liable to terms of imprisonment of up to ten years.
The law acknowledges some exceptions. For example, if a court determines that visual representations or written materials that have been accused of being child pornography have artistic merit or educational, scientific, or medical purposes, the accused parties can be found innocent of the offense of child pornography. The law gives judges discretionary power to determine on reasonable grounds whether materials are pornographic and to issue warrants for the seizure of alleged pornography. Materials judged to be in violation of Canada’s Child Pornography law are forfeited to the state for destruction.
In December, 1993, the Toronto artist Eli Langer and Toronto’s Mercer Union Gallery were charged with violating the Child Pornography Law because the gallery was displaying forty sketches and paintings by Langer containing images of young girls in sexually suggestive poses with adult men and with each other. Langer claimed that because the images came from his imagination—not from live models—they were not child pornography. The gallery’s owner also argued that the pictures were not child pornography, but were art that had the power to provoke discussion of important societal issues. Pressure from arts groups concerned with freedom of expression stimulated a national debate on the question of whether charges such as those made against Langer might affect all Canadian artists and writers and stifle their creativity. In February, 1994, the Crown dropped all charges against Langer and the gallery and applied, unsuccessfully, to the courts for his work to be forfeited so that it could be destroyed.