Justice committee  You're asking me to comment in areas where I lack that depth of knowledge. I would ask you to pose those kinds of questions to a crown prosecutor. But I know from practical experience, working a hold-up detail for many years, that trying to get charges laid against people wearing

Justice committee  That's right.

Justice committee  No. If this excellent legislation is passed, it won't.

Justice committee  As I said, I'm not sure what the legal scholars will finally decide. All I can suggest is that if we come across an individual about to enter into a riotous situation with a backpack full of masks and implements to create a riot, then it would give us the authority to detain, arr

Justice committee  Yes, I listened to those questions. Those are good questions and are things that we've thought about continually. I have enough faith in the prosecutorial system and the police use of discretion and good, God-given common sense, that wouldn't allow us to include in those prosecut

Justice committee  We usually take out ads. We rely on our media to explain the rules behind it, when we know there's going to be a large protest—and we know ahead of time. Vancouver has hundreds and hundreds of protests per year. Because we're the provincial capital in Victoria, we enjoy a large n

Justice committee  No. B.C. has a unique charge approval system to get people before the courts, not like other provinces have. It's simply different. But any tool, especially a tool like this, would have been extremely helpful had it been in place prior to the Vancouver incident.

Justice committee  Most groups who protest, certainly in Vancouver and Victoria, come to the police. We have meetings ahead of time. We set boundaries and guidelines. The huge majority of them are peaceful. This would simply send a message. We would do proactive marketing, if and when this legisla

Justice committee  I think so, but I wouldn't.... There are a number of reasons the charges were slow in coming.

Justice committee  We agree.

Justice committee  You've posed about five different questions. I'll try to cover them. You ask a lot of these brave young police officers who we put in harm's way to protect us during assemblies. It is not a desirable job for the police. Next to domestic violence calls, these are the calls we don

Justice committee  I am simply here at the request of Mr. Richards and this committee to give evidence.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Thank you. I do, Mr. MacKenzie. Hello, Charles.

Justice committee  I'm very pleased to be given this opportunity to share my perspective on Bill C-309. In short, I think this is a progressive, measured, and responsible step towards giving the police agencies the legislative tools we need to uphold the law and maintain public safety. Having serv