Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/275

Rh the actual commission of the erime at the moment of death, shall I sv, that everything of that sort is all right, then you haven't really got an effective act from the point of view of what we want to accowplish.

So reconsideration was immediately given to introducing the necessary amendment. That las been done, There is a slight modi- fiction in bill 7 in the proposed section 150 over and aboye what there was io bill 10, whieh: J shalt come to, but even before we in the House of Commons enacted bill 7, there was another case, Vegina v. Rokr,

As you kuow, m onr counley all criminal prosecutions are brought im ihe name of the Queen. or whoever happens to be wearing the Crown at the time bemg, be it ihe Kine ar the Queen. Regina vy. Mohr, «1 Manitoba case, in whieh the same defense was raised before the magisirate. The magistrate. however. convicted in this case.

So as a test care it was appealed te the Court of Appeals of the Province of Manitoba. Vhe appezl court stated, after looking at the words of the statute, they were clearly of the opivion that the intent of the legislature as clearly to be gathered from those words, was to cover all these incidental arrangements for and consequence of the crime and that, therefore, the prosecution was properly Jannelhed,

I am not going to weary you with it here, but if any member of your cominittee might be mteresied in the diseussion of the eflect of that decision. it may be found in the Canadian Bary review for Decem- ber 1943 af page 1164, where the case and its implications are dis- cussed by the Deputy Attorney General for British Columbia, Afi. Erie Peppler.

That <dlecision seemed to dispose of the fears which we had that the Whole statnte might be rendered ineffective, but nevertheless there was this amendment which had been conteniplated which was still earried forward for the sake of greater certainty.

Jt is not a very important or far-reaching amendment, but F think it does substantiate my point that these words are now sufficient to cover even the horror comic because the definition of ertme comic as it previously appeared im section 207 was in this fom:

Crime comie menns in this section auy magazine, periadical, or book which exclusively or substantially comprises matter depicting pietorially the commis- Sion of crimes, real or fictitious,

Now, it reads in this section:

Crime comic meuns a maguszine, periodical, or bouk that exclusively or stb- stauttally comprises matter depicting pictorially ;

A. ‘the commission of crimes, real or fictitions, or

B. Events connected with the conimission of crimes, real or fictitions, whether oceurring before or after the commission of a crime.

Mr. . You would say, Mr. Fulton, that the statute itself seems to be sufficient. The difficulty lies in the enforcement?

Mr. Founron. In the enforcement; that is my point.

Mr. . You think if there were effective enforcement the problem that Canada faces with respect to crime and horror comics would no longer be there?

Mr, Furron. I don’t suppose it will ever disappear entirely, but it would be effectively dealt with; yes.