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Minister of Justice Attorney General of Canada

Hon. Arif Virani

  • Member of Parliament
  • Minister of Justice Attorney General of Canada
  • Liberal
  • Parkdale—High Park
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 64%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $120,537.19

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 317 - May/24/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)
  • May/24/24 11:55:16 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the court challenges program was created by the Liberal Party of Canada. It was eliminated by the Conservative government and later reinstated by the Liberal Party during the current mandate. As for protecting the French language and official bilingualism across Canada, we are there for official language minority communities, just as we are there to protect both official languages, which are enshrined in the Constitution.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:42:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with the utmost respect, I want to elaborate on a couple of points. First, when a court, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, renders a decision, the administration of justice and justice actors like myself follow that guidance. That is how the rule of law operates in this country. Second, with respect to statutes, there is a guiding statute, a supreme statute. It is called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I know that is sometimes inconvenient for the members opposite, because they want to just trample on it using the notwithstanding clause, but that charter, including in section 11(e), safeguards a right to reasonable bail not to be denied without just cause. These points are perhaps inconvenient for the member asking the questions, and certainly for his leader, but they are not an inconvenience for me or for our government. We stand by them to implement those charter rights and safeguard the rights of all Canadians.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:41:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that as a former Speaker, the member used to consult Speakers' decisions, but I also would appreciate that he knows about Supreme Court jurisprudence. What Bill C-75 did was codify a Supreme Court decision called “Antic”. The law was already in place. We took that law from the court cases and put it into the Criminal Code. That is what codification involves.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:35:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with respect to my appearance in court—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:34:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, avoiding court appearances in criminal matters by politicians would also be—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)
  • May/23/24 10:34:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what I would reiterate, in terms of our previous interactions, is that the notion of my appearing in an open court process would render any—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:11:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have several responses to give. First, the court challenges program was created by a Liberal government. It was eliminated by Harper's Conservative government and then reinstated by our government. Second, the program is not managed by me, but by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, because the Attorney General and the Department of Justice are significantly involved in many cases. We are always either the defendant or the complainant in the cases. Finally, with respect to the situation he mentioned, I will follow up to get a little more information about those concerns.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:06:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned several times this evening, I am in contact with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Chief Justice Wagner. I have spoken with him about his hopes for the administration of the courts across Canada. I also want to point out that technology can be used to accomplish certain things in relation to the courts. For example, with artificial intelligence, we can take care of translation needs—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice, Lib.)
  • May/23/24 9:57:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first, I thank my colleague for his opening comments. Second, Quebec obviously has a civil law system, which is different. That is very clear in our customs and conventions. That is why there are always three judges on the Supreme Court of Canada who are civil law experts. The court needs that when drafting decisions and ruling on cases from Quebec. In my younger days, maybe 27 years ago, I myself spent a semester studying law at Université Laval so I could be more conscious of and informed about Quebec's civil law system.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 9:34:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to note that it is up to a minister, whether that is me or my predecessor, to make the decision to refer a case. Nonetheless, the final decision is always made by a court, whether it is a lower court or a court of appeal.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 9:31:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it may be up to the minister to refer a case, but it is up to a new court to decide whether a person is guilty or not. It is not up to the minister to make the final decision. The decision—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:30:39 p.m.
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Madam Chair, with respect to my previous response to the member, who spent a long time in the Crown courts, I would indicate that—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:29:53 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I attend courthouses frequently. I do not attend active litigation, because my presence could be deemed a potential influencing factor on the litigation that is proceeding.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:29:39 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I attend courthouses frequently in my capacity as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:29:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I attend courthouses around the country frequently in my capacity as minister, and I am invited to such courthouses.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:28:31 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the member opposite is clearly not listening. I indicated in my first response about eight minutes ago that I attend courthouses frequently in my role as minister.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:27:17 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I visit courthouses in my role as Minister of Justice, and I am seized with the issue of bail reform.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:26:59 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the closest courthouses to my constituency office are probably the ones in downtown Toronto.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:26:14 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the closest courthouse to Parliament Hill is actually the Supreme Court.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:25:59 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I believe the nearest courthouse to Parliament Hill is the one on Elgin, opposite the Lord Elgin.
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