By Nora O’Malley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ha-Shilth-Sa Last month, significant changes to Canada’s Criminal Code were passed into law to strengthen protections for victims of gender-based violence, and to keep children safe from predators. The Protecting Victims Act (Bill C-16) received Royal Assent on June 18. Most of the changes came into force on July 18. “In general, all of the changes that are in this announcement are designed to provide more recognition of vulnerable victims and their experience of the criminal legal system and trying to mitigate that with support,” said Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of the Vancouver-based Battered Women’s Support Services. The law gives the justice system stronger tools to intervene earlier to sexual violence, gender-based, and intimate partner violence before it turns fatal, according to…
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