Local MP Dan Albas wants to see criminals face stiffer penalties if they commit crimes in areas affected by a natural disaster.

Albas, MP for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, tabled a private members bill this week aimed at deterring would-be looters from entering an area under an evacuation order. Bill C-447 would allow judges to consider taking advantage of an evacuation order for a natural disaster or emergency as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing purposes.

“This came out of my summer listening tour last year,” said Albas. “When people read in the newspapers that there are lootings that happen during forest fires and whatnot, it can make them a little leery to leave.”

The bill would not establish mandatory sentencing guidelines, but it would allow judges to impose stiffer penalties for crimes which victimize people or communities affected by a natural disaster, said Albas.

In 2017, the CBC reported that at least ten people were arrested in connection with looting in Williams Lake, when the town was under an evacuation order due to nearby wildfires.

The bill received first reading on May 13, and Albas is still working to find support for the bill across party lines.

“The bill is designed specifically to get cross-party support,” he said, but added that if the bill does not receive royal assent by the end of the parliamentary session, he would like to see it taken up by whichever party forms government following the 2019 federal election.