An Act to amend the Criminal Code (assault against persons who provide health services and first responders)

Bill S-233 was a Senate Private Member's Bill amending the Criminal Code (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46) to make assault against persons who provide care (paramedics, hospital emergency-room staff, long-term-care workers, home-care workers) an aggravating factor at sentencing. Brought after the 2024 Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions reported 64 percent of nurses experienced violence in the workplace in 2023 (CFNU national survey), and after the 2022 Hassan Aboulkacem stabbing death of an emergency-department staff member in Hamilton, Ontario. Parallels Bill C-220 of 44-1 (a similar Conservative PMB) and the substantive elements that were incorporated into the federal omnibus Tools to Combat Auto Theft and Repeat Violent Offences Act.