Welcome, minister. Mobina Jaffer from British Columbia.

[Translation]

Thank you, minister, for making time to meet with us today. We really appreciate it.

Minister, I am aware that B.C. has launched the Safer Communities Action Plan, part of which was developed and implemented through the Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative. What exactly does early intervention in cases involving prioritized individuals do to assist Crown counsel in making informed decisions about charges, assessments and giving information to police and other bodies? What does it actually mean on the ground?

How will this program affect the B.C. detention centres and their overcrowding situation?

Thank you.

Minister, thank you for all the answers. I have learned a lot from you today.

I understand you also have a separate Indigenous court as well. Is that correct?

Thank you.

Regarding the issue of legal aid, when the Minister of Justice was here, I asked him a question about this legislation and if he would be increasing legal aid. He told me, “We expanded legal aid in 2022 by $60 million on top.” I won’t read everything else he said, but if I understood him, he said that the annual allotment from the Government of Canada is $202 million a year for criminal legal aid. Obviously, that’s for the whole nation. Are you expecting more legal aid once this legislation has been passed? If not, with the reverse onus, won’t this mean that other parts of services, like matrimonial and other appeals, will suffer?

Thank you, minister.

Thank you to all three of you for being here.

It was only a few months ago when I heard about double charging. I am shocked, because that’s the lazy way. When you can’t do enough investigation, you just charge both. Can I get your opinions, Ms. Coyle and Ms. Latimer, on double charging?

Ms. Owens, I have been really disturbed about the discharge provisions. I can’t believe that Bill C-48 has the discharge provision for intimate partner violence. How can you give a discharge and then look at discharge provisions under this bill? I want your opinion on that.

Ms. Owens, what worries me is that maybe the discharge provisions will be open and then that will make it like a frequent offender and that’s where reverse onus will be used. I don’t know how this will work. Have you thought about that?

Chair, may I ask that we don’t finalize the bill before the gender-based assessment? May I ask that the clerk make it known to the minister’s office that the Senate will — I’m just speaking for myself — reconsider looking at this bill if we don’t get this, because the minister had said we would get it. It’s not normal not to get it.

May I respectfully ask that we ask again, because it’s a new minister and I don’t want it to get —

Thank you, chair.

I’m really uncomfortable asking questions when we don’t have it.

Practically all the witnesses have spoken against the bill. I don’t remember if anyone other than the minister and the second minister spoke in favour of this bill. My colleagues can correct me. I sit here thinking, what are we doing?

I have a question for Ms. Yule, and maybe Mr. Pratt as well. You do this kind of work all the time. First of all, were you consulted?

You really know this work. At times, we hear a sort of cry — I don’t know how big it is — in the newspaper that the government is too easy, that’s it’s too easy to get out on bail and then there is reoffending. That’s the story. That’s the narrative. What could the government have done to improve that system rather than this Bill C-48?

You said you would need more resources and there has to be almost a trial on this, which leads to the fact that the accused person will end up in remand until all the resources are collected and the witnesses have come, and this will take almost as long as a trial in some cases. Of course, we would factor in court time and the fact that we don’t have a full complement of judges. There is a need for more judges, et cetera, et cetera. I am feeling very stressed. Is this just a vicious circle? There will be more trials yet fewer judges and fewer court resources and fewer resources for you, and duty counsel would not be ready on the day?