Hon. Renée Dupuis: Welcome to the Senate, minister. In your December 16, 2021, mandate letter, the Prime Minister said your top priority is, and I quote:

 . . . to ensure that all Canadians have access to fair and just treatment before the law. This includes reforming and modernizing the criminal justice system . . . .

Women have long known that the criminal justice system, as established in the Canadian Criminal Code of 1892, is based on policies and perceptions that constitute systemic discrimination against women. The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs is currently studying Bill C-5, and witnesses have been telling us again and again that women do not trust the criminal justice system because it treats them poorly, whether they are the victims or the accused. Will you commit to overhauling criminal sentencing principles and including, among other things, women’s perspectives as well as—

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. I mentioned a moment ago that every mandate letter for every minister contained a clause on reconciliation. The other mandatory clause has been climate. Everything that all of us do is filtered through the lens of fighting climate change and protecting our environment. You’ve asked a very complex question, which I can’t possibly answer in a minute and a half because of its complexity, and it touches not just what I do but what all of us do here as well.

We are trying on multiple fronts to fight climate change. We have put a price on pollution as one element of a climate change policy, but it will also involve an economic transformation. In a positive sense, there is a new green economy that Canada is uniquely positioned to lead on, and sometimes we have to go to court to defend that vision, which we have done successfully and which we will continue to do successfully. I take a strong hand as Attorney General in the way those cases devolve.

But we will continue. And it requires working with Indigenous peoples; it requires working with business; it requires working with community groups; and it requires working with municipalities, provinces and territories. It’s complex and it touches the work that all of us do, but we don’t have any options.

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: It’s a fantastic question. Thank you. I believe we are doing that in the manner in which you are suggesting. Perhaps not explicitly in one document, although I would point you to every single mandate letter from every single minister, which puts reconciliation as a goal that every single minister and every single department has. It forces us to work together. It forces us to work with Indigenous leadership across Canada at a variety of levels, not just the national organizations but First Nations and regional organizations, modern treaties, pre-Confederation treaties, et cetera. We are doing it, and we are accountable in terms of ministers being accountable through their mandate letters, which are made public.

I agree that we do need to coordinate. We’re trying to break down barriers. I work closely with Ministers Miller, Hajdu, Vandal and Mendicino on all of these matters, and I work closely with Indigenous leadership. Certainly, more coordination and more of a sense that there is a common purpose are always desirable.