Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator, for this important question.

Naturally, the act provided for a study. We have started the process for this parliamentary study with a former deputy minister who will look into several issues, including the one you raised, medical cannabis, and the potential circumvention of the regulations for other purposes.

He will be addressing that issue and investigating it. We are awaiting his report. I can tell you that I will examine and read this report carefully to find the answer to that question.

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you for that question, senator, and I share the place from which that question comes.

As a government, we have committed to implementing the Calls to Action of the TRC. You have cited one of them. That one will require, in particular, work with the Minister of Health as we move forward, as well as cooperation with the provinces, which administer the criminal justice system across Canada as part of their constitutional responsibilities.

But I commit to being an active participant in the implementation of that as we move forward.

I will be honest that, for the time being, my goal is to get Bill C-5 over the finish line, which also responds to a TRC Call to Action regarding the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system, to take one measure.

There are other measures that need to be taken, and I strongly feel that the question of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder will also be something that comes up both in the context of our elaboration of an Indigenous justice strategy and a Black justice strategy, and then in concert with the Minister of Health we can move forward.

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: I read that report and I share your concern, and it is something that I will raise in the appropriate channels.

I can say that within the justice department we are moving in the right direction both in terms of — on the Attorney General side — implementing the litigation directive that my predecessor, the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, brought in and with respect to the policies that we develop at the justice level.

For example, with UNDRIP we have created a secretariat, and I can say that there is real enthusiasm within that secretariat — not to put it too bluntly — to right the wrongs of the past. I’m hoping that’s something we can expand across government.

I agree. I read the report. I was concerned in the same way that you’re concerned, and I will do my best to help change that.

[Translation]

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. With all respect, in Canada, the way we have divided up our system — and I congratulate the previous Conservative government for having done this, as I thought Minister Nicholson did a great job with it — is that the investigative function is undertaken by the place of jurisdiction, whether it be the RCMP or another police force. So those investigations would be undertaken independently by the police force of jurisdiction.

The prosecutorial function is then independently done by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada if it’s covered by the federal prosecution or — in most cases of criminal offences — by provincial prosecution services. Again, those are independent — and I think they should be independent — of the office of the Attorney General.

So I’m not in a position to comment on any of those questions, nor should I be, given the way our system has evolved. I quite frankly think the system as it currently stands is working reasonably well.

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator, for that question, even though I disagree with the way in which it characterizes the issue. It will always be the case that serious crimes will attract serious penalties and that public security is our number one concern.

What we are doing, honourable senator, is making sure that where there is no threat to public security — and a conditional sentence order is only available when there is no threat to public security and the sentence that would be given would be less than two years. These are cases where incarceration is not the best way forward.

I would point you to recent comments by Justice Michael Moldaver — one of the leading law thinkers in Canada and a recently retired justice on the Supreme Court of Canada — who said that our criminal justice system needs to concentrate its resources on serious crime and should not be turning to incarceration where it is not the best way forward, either for the victim or for society at large.

Again, while you cite serious crimes, where those crimes are serious — and where the situation and circumstances were serious — those will always attract serious penalties. What we are doing here is allowing flexibility for a problem, such as a problematic addiction or another social challenge, to be addressed directly as opposed to using incarceration as a means to address that type of social problem.

To repeat, serious crimes will always carry serious sentences and conditional sentence orders are only available where there is no threat to public security.

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. 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.