- 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
- May/30/24 2:59:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not accept the Bloc Québécois member's question.
I have appointed judges to the bench at the fastest rate in Canadian history. Some 113 judges were appointed in my first 10 months. However, there is always more to do. We are in the process of getting it done.
With regard to delays in the criminal justice system, we have invested $700 million to improve access to legal aid, which will help speed up trials.
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- May/23/24 11:15:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would say a number of things. In terms of the tragic death of that woman, that is an absolute tragedy that I feel extreme sympathy for. My heart goes out to her family.
In terms of a response, we are working on a number of fronts. We are working on reimagining how we do policing and what policing is as an essential service. That is something that is governed by the Minister of Public Safety, and he is working on that.
Second, we are addressing systemic racism. We are calling it out by name. We are addressing systemic racism in policing, including in the RCMP.
Third, what I am doing specifically is working on an indigenous justice strategy that is targeted at curing the vast overrepresentation of indigenous people in both our court system and justice system, and in our correction system. That will help with addressing some of the circumstances that led to that fatality, which should have been avoided and needs to be avoided going forward.
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- May/23/24 10:37:56 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-5 dealt with a number of issues that relate to mandatory minimum penalties, including the overrepresentation of indigenous and Black people in our justice system.
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- May/23/24 10:36:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important always to be looking at confidence in the administration of justice.
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- May/23/24 10:19:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely understand that to be the case. It really undercuts this narrative that bail is somehow too facile to obtain in this country when 70% of the population of prisons around the country are actually on remand. That is exactly commensurate with other peer countries. I think that underscores the point that the issues that need to be addressed are widespread and include how we track bail and the decisions that are being made by justices of the peace.
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- May/23/24 10:13:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for her contribution. I would underscore that bail decisions are made by individual justices of the peace or provincial court judges across the country all of the time. They are always trying to work according to the three principles I mentioned, which are flight risks, the likelihood of reoffending, and the message being sent to the community to ensure confidence in the administration of justice.
With respect to police actions, I think that bears some inquiry into why a police pursuit was taking place in the wrong direction on the highway in that instance.
I will share with the hon. member the incredible sadness and sympathy that I feel for the family that suffered such a horrific loss. What we are working constantly to do is to ensure fewer fatal accidents of that nature and that we are keeping Canadians as safe as possible at all times.
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- May/23/24 10:09:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I believe that the creation of this commission is centred on access to justice. In order to have access to justice before this commission, people must be understood, which requires a translation system that—
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- 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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- May/23/24 9:37:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's contributions at the justice committee and to today's debate, but let me just outline a few things. The first is that I am not responsible, or the decision-maker, for individual bail decisions. Those are made by independent and impartial adjudicators around the country. Second, the decisions are meant to be guided by principles under the Criminal Code of Canada and by Supreme Court jurisprudence.
The member is referencing Bill C-75, and what it entrenched is the constitutional principle that already came from case law, such as the Antic decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. All we were doing was codifying a jurisprudential decision that had already been made. However, in terms of decisions that are being made about repeat offenders, that goes to the hallmark of the likelihood of reoffending. That is a consideration for bail under the Criminal Code of Canada. It needs to be applied in all instances.
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- May/23/24 9:36:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what I would say to the member opposite is that as a person who is concerned with the safety of Canadians, obviously I share his concern.
When I outlined earlier the fact that, when dealing with bail, we need to look at flight risk, maintaining confidence in the administration of justice, and protection of the safety of the public, one would genuinely question whether the decisions being rendered by a justice of the peace or a local provincial court justice are accurate in that regard. There is recourse for reviewing a bail decision, and I would urge the residents of Victoria to pursue that recourse.
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- May/23/24 9:33:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we follow the guidelines that fall under our jurisdiction at the federal level when it comes to a miscarriage of justice such as this.
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-40 represents a staggering change in the way we envisage wrongful convictions in this country. It would provide a new mechanism, a review commission, which would have the tools and resources to go out and find the cases. In the same time period, in the U.K., within a 20-year time frame, about 500 cases were unearthed that dealt with wrongful convictions. In the same time period in Canada, 27 cases were found.
I know the member to be a strong advocate of the indigenous community in this country. Among those 27 cases in Canada, five involved Black or indigenous men. Given the severe overrepresentation of Black and indigenous people in our justice system, that is a completely disproportionate statistic that is statistically improbable. Does it mean that, in the U.K., they are wrongfully convicting more people than we are in Canada? No, I think it means that we are not finding the cases here in Canada.
The bill, unfortunately, was obstructed at the justice committee, but it has now finally left the justice committee. Through it, we have the ability to make a fundamental change in how we deal with wrongful convictions in this country, providing the resources and the outreach capability to find the cases and bring innocent men and women to justice in this country, something that is long overdue.
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- May/23/24 9:07:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would reiterate for the member's edification that I do not make individual bail decisions in a country like ours and in a democracy like ours. Those are made by justices of the peace or judges around the country.
An hon. member: Oh, oh!
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- May/23/24 9:06:26 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would indicate to the member opposite that persons who are released on bail through an independent decision made by a justice of the peace in Ontario are often subject to conditions of release that are tailored to their specific situation. Always, the key concerns are deterring a repeat offence, ensuring that we are sending a message, and ensuring that there is not a flight risk.
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Madam Chair, again, for his edification, I would point the member toward Bill C-48, which may have been passed before he arrived. It talked about serious, violent, repeat offenders being subjected to a reverse onus, so instead of being presumed to receive bail, they are presumed not to receive bail and have to convince a justice of the peace otherwise.
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- May/23/24 9:02:48 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as a point of clarification, the Victims Bill of Rights was reviewed by the justice committee last year. With respect to decisions about individual cases of bail, those are made by independent and impartial justices of the peace in Ontario.
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- May/23/24 9:01:37 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I would emphasize is that bail is governed by certain fundamental precepts that are in the Criminal Code of Canada. It is about ensuring that people are not a flight risk or likely to repeat an offence. It is also demonstrating the community's denunciation.
In Ontario, individual bail determinations are mainly made by justices of the peace.
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- 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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- May/23/24 7:36:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, on a number of occasions, I have done my best to reduce the court backlogs. Obviously, that involves appointing judges. I am doing my best to fill those positions. In addition, I am currently working with Chief Justice Wagner on a committee on modernizing court operations. The committee is working on ways to improve processes in courts across Canada. For example, in the digital age, we are trying to find ways to speed up justice using artificial intelligence for complainants or people appearing before our courts, whether in a criminal or civil trial.
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- May/23/24 7:33:09 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I can say is that I will do my best to fill any vacancies across the country. I want to point out that the number of vacancies in Quebec has diminished significantly since I took office. I am working very closely with the chief justices of the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Quebec Superior Court and the Attorney General of Quebec. As I just mentioned, I have already made 106 judicial appointments in my first nine months in office. That is a record-breaking number in modern Canadian history.
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