The B.C. government is consulting with unnamed "stakeholder groups" to examine the possible creation of legislation to target the distribution of "nonconsensual" intimate or explicit images, often referred to as "revenge porn".

In an unsigned May 6 news release, the provincial Gender Equity Office, part of the Ministry of Finance, declared that even though the Criminal Code contains penalties for revenge porn, "potential provincial legislation could provide additional tools for people to protect themselves and seek recourse".

Bill C-13—sometimes called the cyberbullying act but known formally as the Protecting Canadians From Online Crime Act—came into force in Canada in early 2015 and made it illegal to distribute explicit images of someone without their consent. Penalties for serious, or indictable, offences can result in a five-year prison term, while less serious, summary, convictions can net offenders a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

The bill was introduced in Parliament in 2013, the year after Amanda Todd, a Port Coquitlam 15-year-old, committed suicide after being blackmailed, bullied, and harassed.

The parliamentary secretary for gender equity, Grace Lore, is heading up the consultation process—which is ongoing and scheduled to run until June this year—on behalf of B.C.'s attorney general, David Eby.

"Without consent, circulating or threatening to distribute an intimate image is a form of sexual violence with traumatic and lasting impacts," Lore said in the release. "The non-consensual sharing of images can be a form of intimate partner violence or be used to extort victims for additional images, sex or money. We believe a comprehensive B.C. approach can make a real difference for people to achieve results faster and get better access to justice."

The possible legislation could accomplish several things, according to the release, including making sure that victims have an "efficient way" to have such images taken down from social media and destroyed, as well as a potential route for them to claim compensation from offenders.

Also possible, the bulletin noted, are measures to deal with threats in order to prevent such distribution from ever happening.