Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. I share that concern. It’s an important question. I have worked very hard as the Minister of Justice to get more resources for legal aid funding across Canada and to be able to implement more permanent funding as we move forward. It’s a constant battle, but I’m fighting it. I’m also working with my provincial counterparts — because the administration of justice is a provincial jurisdiction — to create a funding allocation mechanism that is not only fairer but also more permanent.

By working with my colleagues, I do hope to get the funding to that point, as well as have a more stable funding path moving forward. Again, usually the federal contribution, at a base, covers criminal law matters, as well as immigration and refugee matters, with the provinces usually funding civil law matters to the extent they wish. Again, we are working at it. I can assure you that work is being undertaken at both the ministerial and the officials level, and hopefully we’ll get to a better place soon.

Hon. Marty Klyne: Minister Lametti, with Bill C-5, the government is moving away from mandatory minimum penalties for some crimes, as a reflection of those mandatory minimum penalties disproportionately affecting Indigenous and racialized populations. This is part of the federal government’s efforts to address systemic racism in the criminal justice system.

However, as we know, this bill was not conceived to address the economic and social factors that create the conditions that lead to overrepresentation of those groups in the system in the first place. Can you tell us what will be done by the federal government — and within your department specifically — to address those root causes?

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. That is a very important question.

First of all, the offences targeted are offences for which Indigenous peoples, racialized individuals and members of the Black community are overrepresented. Whenever possible, we have chosen offences that disproportionately affect those communities. Those are the offences being targeted here.

At the same time, we want to build trust in the system. After more than 10 years of tough-on-crime rhetoric from the Harper government and its strategy that was a complete failure, a certain segment of the population still needs to be convinced. By passing this legislation, we will build trust, because the sky is not going to fall, and Indigenous people and members of the Black community will be less disproportionately affected in our justice system. This will help resolve the situation in the justice system, to some extent.

That’s where we are right now.

Third, if we want to tackle the root causes of systemic racism, why should we give judges who look like you or me additional discretion? It would be better not to give —

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, on June 12, 2018, you and your cabinet colleagues voted in favour of a motion to designate Iran’s IRGC as a terrorist entity.

Minister, it has been 1,576 days since you stood up to signal your support for that. IRGC terrorists have since killed 59 Canadians and 30 permanent Canadian residents on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. Women in Iran have been protesting on the streets, and Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, has been murdered. Those are serious crimes, in my opinion. I hope they are in yours. Canadians are dumbfounded by your government’s reluctance to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization in its entirety. In the 1,576 days that have gone by, has an independent council in the Department of Justice gotten around to reviewing documents listing the IRGC under —

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you. That is an important question. I think everyone in this room shares the sentiments you have brought forward.

We strongly condemn the actions of the Iranian government. We strongly condemn the actions of the IRGC and the impacts it has had, not just on Iranians and particularly Iranian women, but on Canadians as well with the downing of PS752.

As a government, we are looking at that situation. We have condemned all of those actions in the strongest possible terms, and we are keeping all of our options open as we study how best to move forward.

I can assure Canadians, Iranian-Canadians and Iranians, as well as all of you, that we are united in the sentiment of condemnation of the government and of that group. We will continue to use every means at our disposal in order to fight that.

Hon. Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia: Minister, thank you for being here today.

Addressing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Specifically, Call to Action 34 states:

We call upon the governments of Canada, the provinces, and territories to undertake reforms to the criminal justice system to better address the needs of offenders with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), including:

i. Providing increased community resources and powers for courts to ensure that FASD is properly diagnosed, and that appropriate community supports are in place for those with FASD.

As you’re aware, access to diagnostic clinics is patchy at best across Canada. Making a diagnosis of FASD requires a multidisciplinary team and involves complex physical and neurodevelopmental assessment.

Could you please speak to the screening methods available for FASD for offenders in the criminal justice system?

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. That’s a good question. I felt that the consultation process for UNDRIP was a good process, and even a very good process. There were some voices who felt that they hadn’t been heard, although we did our best.

The main thing we have done — and I say “we” in a collaborative way — to ensure a better process this time around is to put much of the responsibility and the mechanics of the consultation process on the Indigenous leadership groups themselves. We have provided support. We have provided funding. A number of leadership structures across Canada — because it is completely asymmetrical, particularly with the Assembly of First Nations, or First Nations. It is a completely asymmetrical picture when it comes to consultation, and so we are working in collaboration with a number of different groups at a number of different levels, as I’ve mentioned before — nations, regions, national groups, treaties, modern treaties, no treaties, et cetera — and we’ve put much of the consultation and the leadership for that consultation in the hands of Indigenous peoples such that it is a truly collaborative process.

On the Department of Justice side, we have created a secretariat that is dedicated to working with and collaborating with and trying to fill in any gaps that might exist, and I think the process is moving very well. It is an intense process, but I do think this will get us to an action plan in a better —

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: I’m working with Mark Farrant on a way to support jurors. That was Michael Cooper’s private member’s bill, which I supported from the get-go in its earlier iteration, ever since I was appointed as minister, to help jurors who need psychological support because of their contribution and its impact. That was very important, and we supported the bill. Thanks to the resources of Mr. Farrant’s organization, we will continue to find ways to act on the recommendations in the report you just referred to.

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