Senator Lankin: Thank you, Senator Gold. I do understand the jurisdictional questions. When I was Minister of Health in Ontario, the ministry brought me a proposal to add a billing code to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, or OHIP, to cover female circumcision. I said no, and I refused to take it to cabinet. I heard, then, from many people and most particularly mothers who were desperate to protect their daughters from this practice, whether it was being done under the guise of a vacation to a homeland or here in our country, and we know that it is being done here. Those mothers, some of whom I have reached back out to, do not know about the Criminal Code provision. Publicizing it is an important thing.

You read my mind a little bit in your answer, so I will ask you specifically: Will you ask the government whether they would support a review of the law to determine its impact on deterrence, by either supporting a bill that we can bring forward here in the Senate, through a motion for such a study or, better yet, with an announcement that they will undertake such a review and that it will have started and be under way by this fall?

Hon. Frances Lankin: Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.

First of all, I would like to thank Senator Jaffer and Senator Gerba for their recent forum on the issue of female genital mutilation, and Senator Gold, this is the issue I wish to ask you a question about today.

In February 2021, Senator Jaffer requested data from you with respect to prosecutions under the Criminal Code that outlaw female genital mutilation. As you pointed out, the government doesn’t control the charges and prosecutions in that process, but the government is responsible for determining if their law is having the desired impact on, for example, justice for victims, penalizing the perpetrators found guilty and, certainly, as with most laws, general deterrence. Without having such data, it is hard to know whether this law is having an impact given that we do not see many prosecutions.

Since the government has been made aware of this — this was almost a year and a half ago — could you tell us what the government has done to gather such data, publicize it and what the impact of this Criminal Code provision has actually been since its inception? Thank you.