B.C. set to introduce legislation targeting revenge porn

The B.C. government is set to introduce legislation it says will allow action against so-called revenge porn, the posting of intimate images without a person's consent.

Attorney General Niki Sharma will speak Monday about the new law, which has been in the works for several years.

The legislation could give people a new option to have the images taken down and destroyed more efficiently, according to a statement from the province during early consultations. It could also give victims an avenue they can use to claim compensation from people who shared their photos without permission.

"The potential legislation could also address the threat of distributing images and prevent such harms from occurring in the first place," the province said at the time.

The government said a national hotline reported a 58 per cent increase in the non-consensual sharing of intimate images by the start of 2021, compared with the nine-month period before April 1 the previous year.

Sharma will be joined by Carol Todd, whose daughter Amanda died by suicide after being harassed and sexually extorted for years, and Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity Kelli Paddon.

The publication of intimate images without consent is already an offence under Canada's Criminal Code. 

B.C.'s new legislation will help tackle the issue from a civil standpoint.

"[Revenge porn] absolutely is an issue, it's an issue that, yes, we can tackle at the criminal level, but it's also important that provinces and territories introduce legislation for some civil recourse when this happens," said Signy Arnason, associate executive director with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

"It's another tool that can be used to address when people are sharing things without consent and we know this is happening quite often, again, particularly with youth and young adults."

The criminal charge came into force in March 2015 as part of the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. The law was drawn up in response to public outrage over the suicides of Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons, who, according to her family, took her own life after a photo of her alleged sexual assault was circulated.

Nova Scotia, Parsons' home province, adopted legislation targeting cyberbullying and the sharing of intimate images in 2018.

Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island also have legislation to complement the existing criminal law, while Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut do not.