Canadian Criminal Law/Offences/Sexual Interference

Proof of Offence
The Crown should prove:
 * 1) identity of accused
 * 2) date and time of incident
 * 3) jurisdiction (incl. region and province)
 * 4) that victim was under the age of sixteen at the time of the events alleged
 * 5) that the accused touched the victim,
 * 6) that that touching was for a sexual purpose
 * 7) the accused knew the victim was under 16 or the accused did not take reasonable steps to ascertain the age of the victim

Essential elements are in bold.

Interpretation
"[A]n accused who intends sexual interaction of any kind with a child and with that intent makes contact with the body of a child “touches” the child and is guilty of an offence. The section addresses not the instigator of the sexual conduct but rather the adult who for his or her own sexual purposes makes contact, whether as a primary actor or not, with the body of a child."

Defences

 * Consent

Witness motions

 * Exclusion of public from court (486)
 * Prohibition of self-represented accused from Cross-examining a witness under the age of 18 years (486.3)
 * Sexual Offence Publication Ban (486.4)
 * Publication Ban of in relation to victims, witnesses or justice system participants (486.5)
 * Witness Screen (486.2)
 * Testimony by Video (714.1)

History
On August 9, 2012, the section was amended to increase the penalties from 45 days for indictable and 14 days for summary to one year and 90 days respectively.