Canadian Astronauts Are No Longer Allowed To Rob, Hurt People In Space Under Criminal Code

Canada updated its penal law on Thursday to prosecute crimes committed by Canadian astronauts while on missions to the Moon or in space.

In addition, foreign astronauts who endanger the life or security of a Canadian astronaut could also be prosecuted under the same law, CBC reported.

Canada To Prosecute Astronauts Committing Crime in Space

A Criminal Code amendment that would explicitly extend Canadian criminal jurisdiction to the cosmos is buried deep within the legislation implementing Canada's federal budget for 2022.

Under the subheading Lunar Gateway, the Criminal Code amendment reads (per ENCA): "A Canadian crew member who, during a space flight, commits an act or omission outside Canada that if committed in Canada would constitute an indictable offence is deemed to have committed that act or omission in Canada."

If a Canadian commits a criminal offense while in space, they will be welcomed with handcuffs when they return.

International astronauts who endanger the lives or security of a Canadian crew member on a Canadian space mission could be penalized, too.

Along with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) participates in the NASA-led Lunar Gateway project.

Why Canada Made Such A Law For Astronauts

The technological lawlessness of space has long been recognized as an issue by legal specialists. In 2019, a U.S. astronaut serving on the International Space Station was accused of committing history's first-ever space crime, bringing the issue to the fore.

Summer Worden, Anne McClain's estranged spouse, accused her of illegally accessing Worden's online bank data using an ISS computer, which Worden claimed was a form of identity theft.

The charges were later proven to be incorrect, and Worden has been charged with lying to federal investigators in the United States.

Since 1985, the Canadian Space Agency has sent nine Canadians to space on missions. Julie Payette, Canada's recently resigned governor-general, and Chris Hadfield, whose leadership of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013 elevated him to the status of astronaut fame.

The nine astronauts are all highly-trained government employees, who are subjected to a complex web of professional and international regulations designed to keep them in check.

Canada has been involved in a similar legal situation before, The National Post said. Although this time, it involved the legally ambiguous jurisdiction of an iceberg rather than space.

In 1970, a U.S. citizen working aboard a floating ice sheet shot and killed a fellow researcher after a dispute over a stolen bottle of homemade wine. Although both the accused and the victim were U.S. citizens residing in a U.S. institution at the time of the crime, the iceberg occurred in the Canadian territory.

Although Canada eventually ceded its jurisdiction over the case, it prompted the United States to establish a statute in 1984 subjecting its citizens to criminal law if the alleged offense is committed "beyond the jurisdiction of any nation."

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