Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you for the question, senator. As I’ve mentioned before, I spent a decade as a prosecutor on the front lines of the criminal justice system. Victims’ testimony is essential to ensuring that justice —

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan: Minister, the 2019 Final Report of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls noted that while Indigenous women represented only 4% of Canada’s population in 2016, they comprised nearly 50% of victims of human trafficking. In September 2019, just before the federal election that year, the Trudeau government reinstated the National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking after cancelling the previous Conservative government’s strategy in 2016.

Minister, how much of the $75 million under your government’s strategy has been allocated to directly help and protect Indigenous women and girls against human trafficking? How has this funding been allocated?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Welcome, minister. As I’m sure you know, in 2015, the federal government unanimously passed an act to create the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights. This is a supra-constitutional statute, which means that it takes precedence over all federal statutes. Consequently, all federal departments and agencies must ensure that their enabling legislation, their regulations and their interactions with victims of crime respect the basic principles of this bill of rights, including the right to information and the right to participation.

Do you think the RCMP is required to respect the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights? Is it required to respect acts of Parliament?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Minister, the lack of a response to my first question is very troubling and leads me to believe that the RCMP thinks it’s above the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights.

As the person responsible for enforcing laws in Canada, what would you say to the Savoie family in New Brunswick, who have been waiting 15 years for the RCMP to inform them of the circumstances surrounding the death of their 17-year-old daughter, who was killed by an impaired driver?

What would you say to the families in Portapique who are being denied the right to participate in the public inquiry into the killing of 22 people?

Is the RCMP not accountable to victims of crime and their families?

Regarding your question specifically, there is a process for victims, and there are principles enshrined in several laws to protect their rights. They have access to information on the justice system, and it is our government’s duty to defend the rights of victims so they can obtain justice.

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