Legislation that makes it easier to create marine protected areas in Canada has been adopted in the Senate with amendments.

Bill C-55 aims to better protect and improve the health of Canada’s oceans by helping to create more marine protected areas off our coasts. It helps deliver on Canada’s international commitment to increase protection of marine and coastal areas from 7.75 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020, targets set out in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

“We live in a time of urgency when it comes to our oceans and the greater environment around us,” said Senator Patricia Bovey, the bill’s sponsor, during a speech in the Red Chamber.

“We need to act now, because at the end of the day, it is the health of our oceans that ensures the health and prosperity of the people and communities that depend upon them.”

2 bills referred to committee

Legislation to overhaul Canada’s current system of segregation in prisons advanced to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on Thursday for review following second reading.

Bill C-83 provides inmates who are temporarily removed from the general population with at least four hours daily out of the cell, including two hours of meaningful human interaction, as well as support services for rehabilitation and reintegration back into the main prison population. It also requires that systemic and background factors are considered in decisions related to Indigenous offenders.

“Bill C-83 will make correctional institutions across Canada safer, it will ensure better rehabilitation and more humane conditions for those who must be separated from the general prison population for a measured period and it will help meet the overall objective of safer communities,” said Senator Marty Klyne, the bill’s sponsor, in a speech to the Red Chamber.

On Tuesday, legislation that would give new rights to victims of service offences advanced to the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence for review following second reading.

Bill C-77 enacts a Declaration of Victims’ Rights in the military justice system in order to handle minor breaches of military discipline, and to address gender-based prejudice and hatred in the Canadian Armed Forces. It also mirrors the Canadian civilian justice system in sentencing indigenous offenders.

Here’s a list of Government bills currently before the Senate.