Justice committee  In the precise scenario that you've given me, he probably wouldn't be charged, because he's probably within the five years, if he's just over.

Justice committee  Well, you said 20, but anyway....

Justice committee  It could happen, for sure. You have to think about the practicalities, and I think that's what we're trying to do. In a situation like that, where the accused is so close in age, within the five years or just over, in what circumstances would a charge be laid in those cases, right?

Justice committee  Just to be sure we're talking about the same situation, the 21-year-old who's applied for or is in the situation where they've applied for a marriage licence--

Justice committee  Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Canada does not recognize a marriage or a common-law relationship of a foreign national if he or she is under the age of 16. That's what the law is, federally, and that's what Bill C-22 would be consistent with. It wouldn't necessarily prevent them from having access to Canada through the refugee process, but they wouldn't recognize the marriage or a common-law relationship for those purposes.

Justice committee  That is my understanding.

Justice committee  If the relationship existed when Bill C-22 comes into force, those persons in relationships with people more than five years older than them will have a line of defense. But if it's a marriage, and common law, if a couple was together for one year, or there was a child, and it existed and it met that definition when Bill C-22 comes into force, again, an exception will protect them.

Justice committee  Not based on those projections. I had previously some indication of marriages, recorded through vital statistics, that Statistics Canada was able to give me, but they go back quite a number of years. Going back to early 1990s, the numbers were more. For sure they were higher in the nineties than what I've just indicated to you, the five.

Justice committee  Two years ago, in the context of proceedings under a former bill, Bill C-2, the Department of Justice had furnished some information to the committee that talked about what we knew about 15-year-old youths in relationships, either legally married or common law, and the age of their partners.

Justice committee  It's three where you cannot.

Justice committee  Again, the legally married estimate that I provided on number five is based on a projection from the 2001 data. If I look at my chart for those who are 15 years old, I had said for all of Canada there were four females and one 15-year-old male. It was projected to be in Ontario.

Justice committee  There are two, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. They have the same legislation.

Justice committee  Yes, I do. I think this also will help to clarify some of the information that we had before the committee on Tuesday. Reference was just made to the number of couples; it was 3,000, or something in that range. Between the last committee hearing and today I did follow up with my colleagues at the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, the two witnesses who appeared before this committee, Karen Mihorean and Lynn Barr-Telford.

Justice committee  Under the existing legislation, the age of consent is 18. If it's prostitution, child pornography, or where there's a relationship of trust, dependency, or authority, or as was expanded in the last Parliament under former Bill C-2, the court is directed to say that if there is a relationship involving a young person between the ages of 14 and 18, the court is directed to infer that that relationship is exploitative by looking at the age of the young person, the difference in age between the young person and the other person, how the relationship evolved, and the nature of influence exerted over the young person.

Justice committee  Consent of a 12- and 13-year-old is only valid with another person provided there's less than two years difference in age. You have a two-year close-in-age exception. So it's age 18, at the upper limit, for prostitution, child pornography, these other exploitative relationships of trust, dependency, etc.; and at the bottom, a 12- or 13-year-old can engage in sexual activity with somebody who is less than two years older, and age 14 for all other purposes.