Today, government of Canada has introduced legislation to help combat identity theft, generally referred to as identity fraud, which has been identified as a fast-growing problem throughout North America. This legislation will make it an offence to obtain, possess or traffic in other people's identity information if it is to be used to commit a crime.
This crime was previously covered by current offences in the Criminal Code, such as personation and forgery, which generally didn’t capture the preparatory steps of collecting, possessing and trafficking in identity information.
The proposed legislation would create three new offences directly targeting aspects of the identity theft problem, all subject to five-year maximum sentences: (a) obtaining or possessing identity information with intent to use it to commit certain crimes; (b) trafficking in identity information with knowledge of or recklessness as to its intended use in the commission of certain crime; and (c) unlawfully possessing and trafficking in government-issued identity documents.
Additional Criminal Code amendments would create new offences of fraudulently redirecting or causing redirection of a person's mail, possessing a counterfeit Canada Post mail key and possessing instruments for copying credit card information, in addition to the existing offence of possessing instruments for forging credit cards.
Moreover, a new power would also be added permitting the court to order, as part of a sentence, that an offender be required to pay restitution to a victim of identity theft or identity fraud where the victim has incurred expenses related to rehabilitating their identity, such as the cost of replacement cards and documents and costs in relation to correcting their credit history.
This legislative proposal is one in a new series of tackling community crime bills the Government of Canada will be introducing in this new session of Parliament. This series is in addition to the comprehensive Tackling Violent Crime Act that aims to better protect youth from sexual predators, protect society from dangerous offenders, get serious with drug impaired drivers and toughen sentencing and bail for those who commit serious gun crimes.
An online version of the legislation will be available at http://www.parl.gc.ca/.
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