Far be it from me to tell the Supreme Court of Canada that they don't mean what they say.
Ms. Cheung, you testified on Bill C-17—a similar bill—on February 10 of 2011. You said, and I'm quoting:As it is currently drafted...the investigative hearing provision...leaves open room for potential misapplication of the law.
This is a new iteration of it, and when Minister Nicholson, our Minister of Justice, testified before this committee on November 19 of this year, he noted several and numerous safeguards, including: (i) that the prior consent of the Attorney General of Canada, or the attorney general or solicitor general of the province, would be needed before a peace officer could apply for an investigative hearing order; (ii) there would have to be reasonable grounds to believe that a terrorism offence has been or will be committed; (iii) the judge would have to be satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made to obtain the information by other means for both future and past terrorism offences; (iv) the bill clarifies that section 707 of the Criminal Code, which sets out the maximum period of detention for an arrested witness, applies to a person arrested with warrant and detained in order to ensure his or appearance at the investigative hearing; (v) the witness would have the right to retain and instruct counsel at any stage of the proceeding; (vi) a person could refuse to answer a question or produce anything that is protected by Canadian law relating to the non-disclosure of information or privilege; (vii) federal and provincial attorneys general would be required to report annually on any use of investigative hearings; (viii) this annual report would include an additional requirement that the Attorney General of Canada and the Minister of Public Safety provide their opinion, supported by reasons, on whether these provisions should remain in force.
In other words, there is evidence not only before the Canadian public on a continuing basis but also before Parliament on the use of this.
Do you think such safeguards are important, these ones I've listed?