Yukon MP Ryan Leef tabled a private member's bill in the House of Commons this week which seeks to amend the Criminal Code to recognize the impacts of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

If passed, Leef's bill would amend the code to include a definition of FASD.

It would also permit the courts to order an assessment to determine if an accused suffers from FASD.

The bill would also enable judges to consider FASD a mitigating factor if it's found the disorder may have been a contributing factor to a crime.

Today, Leef noted that his bill is an important first step, but it doesn't address prevention or programming in correctional facilities.

His hope is that it will further discussion and lead ultimately to the development of complementary legislation.

As a former police officer and correctional worker, Leef said, it was his own experiences in the justice system, witnessing the challenges faced by people with FASD, which led him to develop the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code.

He explained that while many judges understand the impact FASD can have, most attempts to consider it a mitigating factor have been overruled by higher courts.

"Appellant courts have ruled that the lower courts cannot just take judicial notice of FASD because there's complex and varying ranges of FASD, and it manifests itself differently at different times for different individuals,” he said.

That's a key reason Leef included the ability of a court to order an assessment in his bill.

The assessment would determine whether an accused falls along the fetal alcohol spectrum and whether that contributed to an offence.

"What we don't want to say is FASD equals criminality because that's not the case,” Leef told the Star.

"We do know that people suffering from FASD have a higher propensity to have negative conflict with the law and we have to deal with it, but it's not an absolute,” he noted.

In a statement today, Mike McCann, the executive director of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Society Yukon, said the organization is pleased to see the bill brought forward and commended Leef for his work on this initiative.

"This legislation explicitly acknowledges that an FASD diagnosis should inform a court's determination of a fair sentence and provides judges with the means to seek out information about the role the disability may  have played in the conduct that brought the individual before the court,” he said.

"We think it is also important to acknowledge that Yukon courts have for years been responsive to this issue. They have led the country in this area, and some of their decisions have been precedent-setting,” he added.

Leef too commended Yukon organizations and advocates who, he said, are leading the country in terms of FASD research and prevention.

Leef's bill was introduced and passed first reading on Monday.

From the colleagues he's spoken with, he said, there is support for the amendments, but he noted he hasn't pushed Justice Minister Peter MacKay for a response.

The MP was asked if he's concerned the government may see the amendments as straying from its high-profile tough on crime agenda.

Leef noted the Conservative government's agenda is focused on victims, a category he said includes people suffering from FASD.

"Nobody asked to be born with FASD; it's beyond their control, it is not curable, and it does have impacts that challenge behavioural control,” he said.

"It is time to provide the courts with the right tools and flexibility to appropriately reflect the realities of this disorder.”

Calls to the Yukon's legal aid for comment were not returned by this afternoon's press deadline.