The Conservative government is getting tough on white-collar crime, introducing mandatory penalties for fraud, tougher sentences and requiring courts to consider financial compensation for victims.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson introduced the proposed changes to Canada's Criminal Code at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday afternoon.
"Offenders should be held responsible for the often devastating financial loss that victims suffer," he said when describing the proposed changes.
"This legislation will acknowledge that those who fall victim to these kinds of frauds have been victimized just as much as a person who has been mugged in an alley."
Nicholson said mandatory sentences were necessary to give Canadians the faith in the criminal justice system that they deserve.
"Canadians lose faith in the criminal justice system when they feel the punishment does not fit the crime," Nicholson told reporters.
Exact details of the proposed sentencing changes were not immediately available from the government.
Nicholson also made reference to the fragmented nature of the current minority Parliament, saying that the Conservative government will need the support of its opposition members to get the anti-fraud measures passed.
He said the Conservative government had tried to bring in legislation to target white-collar crime -- by barring house arrest for fraudsters -- on a previous occasion, but could not get the support needed to bring the changes into law.
"We can only hope that the opposition will now co-operate with us and get these bills passed," Nicholson said.
"We didn't get the support last time, I hope we get it this time," he added later.
In late August, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he would table legislation with tougher sentences for white-collar crime.
Other challenges
Earlier Tuesday, Toronto-based criminal lawyer Jonathan Rosenthal talked to Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel about the challenges facing fraud investigators -- and fraud victims -- in Canada.
He said Canada does not have enough resources devoted to dealing with white-collar crimes, and falls far behind the lead of the United States.
"I'm a criminal lawyer in Toronto, for example, and the fraud squads, even in small frauds are just grossly overworked where files sit on their desks for years. The same thing with large-scale, white-collar frauds, there's not enough police investigating them, unlike the United States where they do have great resources," he told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel during an interview in Toronto on Tuesday morning.
"So our police are really handcuffed, simply by a lack of resources," Rosenthal added.
"So it's not just changing the legislation. If the government really does want to come down hard on this stuff, they are going to have to hire a lot of very experienced police officers to get up to speed."
Canadian victims of financial crimes gathered in Ottawa on Tuesday to make public their desire for the creation of a securities crimes unit.
Fraud hits the headlines
White-collar crime has made headlines across Canada in recent months, as alleged Ponzi schemes were uncovered in Quebec and Alberta.
Quebec recently announced its own intention to get tough on white-collar crime, following a string of financial crimes that have afflicted the province.
There were also Canadian victims of disgraced New York financier Bernard Madoff, who admitted to stealing billions from hundreds of clients. In June, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
With a report from CTV's Rosemary Thompson and files from The Canadian Press
