Jurors will soon be able to disclose the content of deliberations to a therapist

(OTTAWA) Parliament unanimously passed a bill on Wednesday that will allow jurors to disclose information about jury deliberations, which are strictly secret in Canada, to a medical professional.

The new law, sponsored by Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, creates an exception to the strict rules surrounding jury secrecy in the Canadian legal system.

The Criminal Code will therefore be amended so that jurors may, without breaking the law, disclose such information during “medical or psychiatric treatment, therapy or counseling provided after the trial by a medical professional “.

MPs unanimously passed the bill on Wednesday afternoon, and it will come into effect 90 days after the Governor General proclaims it into law.

Conservative Senator Boisvenu, an ardent defender of the rights of victims of crime, introduced the bill in the upper house last November, and senators passed it within two weeks.

Conservative MP Michael Cooper, who sponsored the bill in the House of Commons, said earlier this year that the Criminal Code amendment would go a long way to supporting the mental health of jurors.