Bill C-22 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

This enactment amends the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to, among other things, repeal certain mandatory minimum penalties, allow for a greater use of conditional sentences and establish diversion measures for simple drug possession offences.

Public Safety

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I was at YVR mere hours before greater Vancouver's 10th shooting in three weeks took place publicly in broad daylight.

In this past year the government has cracked down on legal firearms owners, airsoft players and paintball gamers, ignoring the real issues threatening Canadian lives. With its Bill C-22, criminals may not even have to serve prison time.

When will the government stop harassing law-abiding citizens, stand on the side of ordinary Canadians, tackle illegal guns and remove those violent thugs and gang criminals from our streets?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, Durham region was shaken by two shootings in Ajax last week, which appear to be gang related. According to Statistics Canada, the number of gang-related murders since the Liberals first took office has been higher ever single year than any year under the previous Conservative government. The Liberal government's soft-on-crime approach through bills like Bill C-22 and Bill C-75 has made Canada a safe haven for gang activity.

When will caring about gang violence, the true source of gun crime in Canada, become a priority for the Liberal government?

[Joshua Sealy-Harrington]

Madam Chair, I'll just say that I spoke with Senator Kim Pate about my concerns about Bill C-22. If you listen to that interview, you'll be able to hear a detailed discussion about my support of certain aspects of it, but also my significant concerns with it.

[Drew Lafond]

Sure, I can chime in on this one.

On Bill C-22, again, we've had a lot to say to the minister's office on this point specifically. Our written correspondence outlines that while we're pleased to see some changes that reflect some of the calls to action—specifically, call to action 32—there's nothing of any substantive or systemic value in Bill C-22 or Bill C-23.

We've raised 16 points—10 immediate action points need to be addressed today. They need to be addressed immediately. They've been studied extensively and repeatedly and, again, set out in 21 commissions, reports and studies over the last 30 years. The problem we have with Bill C-22 and Bill C-23 is that the scope of their focus is too narrow and doesn't focus on any of the systemic items that we've identified need to take place immediately.

Just to name a few—I've named 10 already in my initial presentation—there are others that we've communicated: addressing over-policing and over-criminalization of indigenous peoples; implementing a multi-pronged indigenous de-escalation strategy; and ensuring appropriate systems are in place for carefully and systemically investigating reports of crime and violence against indigenous victims. These are systemic items that have been identified on numerous occasions, and what we lack right now is the implementation.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

It is an absolute pleasure to join this committee today.

Mr. Brown, you mentioned record suspensions, and I couldn't agree with you more. It's something I was really pleased to see in the budget in terms of dealing with those mean-spirited increases in the record suspension fee, which meant that people couldn't apply. It is in the budget. There are 700 pages there, so I am not surprised if you may have missed that, but it is something that we're committed to changing.

I want to thank all the witnesses today for your testimony. You've been talking a lot about indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and racialized Canadians who are disproportionately impacted by their being touched by the criminal justice system. It costs us $330 a day to put someone into prison, and that's not the place where most of them need to be.

Because you've brought up those issues, I want to focus on Bill C-22, because that bill does include reducing mandatory minimum sentences, drug diversion and conditional sentences. It's dealing with a number of issues that you've all touched on as being of concern.

There was a study that was done of 44 indigenous women—the fastest-growing prison population in Canada—who received conditional sentences prior to 2012. It was found that 36 of them would have been ineligible to receive a conditional sentence under the Harper government restrictions. I met two of them when I visited the Edmonton Institute for Women. They were women who should not have been in jail, and because they were in jail, it was going to impact the rest of their lives.

I'm just wondering if each of you could maybe talk a bit about how important it is to get Bill C-22 passed—and passed quickly.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I'm going to resist the temptation to use my entire six minutes to applaud this panel. I think it is very important that they've directed our attention to the root causes of delays in the system and to the importance of protecting constitutional rights.

We will have opportunities in Parliament to discuss other bills that deal with some of these questions, and I hope that we will see these witnesses come back to give us further input on Bill C-22 and Bill C-23.

I want to take the time today to talk about one of my concerns: that our shift to the Zoom platforms during COVID, while necessary in an emergency, may make some fundamental changes in our justice system, which I believe will disadvantage indigenous people, racialized Canadians and those who live in poverty.

I'd like to hear from each of the witnesses what they think about this shift of platforms and its impact on those who are most marginalized in the justice system already.

Maybe I will start with Mr. Sealy-Harrington.

[Daniel Brown]

Yes.

What I'd also say is that I've touched on a few points here, a few barriers, but there are other ones as well. The unavailability, right now, of conditional sentences for many offences, like fraud offences.... I know that's something the government is trying to reintroduce again in Bill C-22, but it is something where there's an absence of legislation to address a lot of these challenges.

Also, there is the fact that, right now, when somebody is found guilty of a fairly serious criminal offence, they are automatically deported without any right of appeal. There are so many reasons why people refuse to solve their cases, and they hang around the justice system and hang around and go all the way to trial and wait to see if their case gets thrown out for delay because there is just simply no way to solve these cases in advance. We need to find other opportunities to solve cases, to remove those barriers. If we're continuing to eat the same amount, we have to figure out at least a way to get rid of these cases that are in the system so that we can make room for these other cases.

[Daniel Brown, Vice-President, Criminal Lawyers' Association of Ontario]

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, vice-chairs and honourable members.

Criminal cases are more complex and consume greater court resources than ever before. We all know that lengthy court delays can violate an accused person's constitutionally protected right to a trial in a reasonable amount of time and lead to charges being stayed. Ongoing and repeated delays in the court system caused by the COVID-19 pandemic can also diminish the public's confidence in the criminal justice system, which is fundamental to its operation.

The answer isn't to give up and to ignore constitutionally protected rights, as advocated by Mr. McCarthy in the last panel. The Criminal Lawyers' Association believes that the answer to COVID-related backlogs in the court system is to enact policy changes that will ensure the system has both the time and resources to focus on the most serious cases and those that just simply can't be solved without a trial.

In our time here, we'll focus on three suggestions that will help remove cases that are clogging up the court system but shouldn't be. Number one is to remove barriers to resolving cases without a trial. Number two is to divert administration of justice offences out of the court system. Number three is to decriminalize drug possession offences.

The decision about whether or not an accused person should proceed to trial can be heavily influenced by the sentencing consequences of a particular crime. A person is far less likely to plead guilty if there are consequences that impact their immigration, their employment or will simply incarcerate them for a long period of time. These significant consequences act as barriers to solving cases without trials. One of these barriers is mandatory minimum sentences. I don't just mean mandatory minimum jail sentences, but mandatory minimum consequences that flow from certain criminal convictions.

Drinking and driving convictions, for example, require the sentencing judge to impose the mandatory criminal record in every single case, even for a first offender who's barely over the legal drinking limit. These otherwise resolvable cases are clogging up the courts. It's no coincidence that drinking and driving offences are one of the most litigated categories of cases and one of the offences that frequently breaches the delay ceiling set by the Supreme Court in the Jordan decision. Eliminating mandatory sentences would drastically reduce the number of cases that go to trial, which would, in turn, ensure timely justice for other cases in the system.

Another barrier to resolving cases is the five- to 10-year waiting period a person with a criminal conviction must endure to have their criminal record cleared through the record suspension process. The proposed changes in Bill C-22, introduced by this government, address some of these barriers, including the elimination of some mandatory minimum sentences, but fails to address other ones like the drinking and driving mandatory convictions. Bill C-22 also fails to address the barriers to obtaining record suspensions, including the prohibitive costs and lengthy wait times.

Another way we can reduce backlogs in the court system is to divert administration of justice offences from the system all together. These offences, including failing to appear in court and failing to comply with a court order, account for more than one in five cases right now in our justice system. Following Senate recommendations in 2017, the government changed the Criminal Code to include a process whereby the police or the prosecutors could now opt to not charge somebody and opt not to prosecute them for one of these offences. Instead, they can refer them to a judicial referral hearing where a judge would potentially tweak the bail release plan or decide to reincarcerate the person. This regime avoids piling on criminal charges, which come with their own requirements for disclosure, meeting with the prosecutor, guilty pleas, trials and sentencings.

Unfortunately, these diversion tools simply aren't being utilized by the crowns or the police who must initiate the referral hearing process. This new regime designed to reduce some 175,000 cases in our system is lying dormant. The solution here is simple: Remove those barriers that prevent either a judge from referring a case or place discretion completely in the hands of the police and the crowns.

A similar concern exists with the increased discretion afforded to prosecuting low-level drug offences. Bill C-22 goes some way toward decriminalizing these offences by encouraging prosecutors to divert some drug cases out of the system in favour of drug treatment programs. Placing discretion to divert these charges entirely in the hands of prosecutors and the police creates obvious problems. For example, will they use this discretion?

We're also concerned about whether this discretion will be applied equitably. We know that discrimination and bias run rampant through the justice system, adversely impacting indigenous and black defendants far more than any other race. If we accept that drug addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal law issue, we shouldn't be prosecuting these cases at all.

In conclusion, removing barriers to guilty plea resolutions and diverting drugs and access to justice offences from the justice system would free up precious court time and resources that could be redeployed to other cases in danger of being tossed for unreasonable delay following the COVID-19 pandemic, and ensure timely justice for victims and accused persons.

Thank you.

Criminal Code

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege for me to speak to Bill C-21, and I want to thank my colleague, the hon. member for New Brunswick Southwest, for sharing his time with me today.

Keeping our communities safe is one of the primary responsibilities of government. Whenever we find ourselves lying in bed or walking in a park, or are at work or in a classroom, every Canadian should be able to live without the fear of violence. To that end, Canada has some of the strictest laws in the world when it comes to firearms.

Indeed, Canadian firearms owners are among the strongest advocates for firearm safety and common-sense firearms laws. To me, that makes sense, but when left-leaning governments want to be seen as cracking down on gun violence and gang activity, law-abiding firearms owners take the brunt of their focus and become the target.

The problem with that approach, of course, is that registered firearms owners are not typically the ones committing any acts of violence. This means that a credible approach to tackling gun violence needs to focus on the criminals and gangs who have no regard for Canada's firearms laws and who use illegal guns in the commission of violence. Any other focus is simply virtue signalling and window dressing.

The reality is that the vast majority of gun crimes are committed with illegally obtained firearms. At least 80% of the guns used in Canadian gun crimes are illegally smuggled in from the United States. This is not particularly shocking, given that Canada and the United States have the world's longest undefended border. We are also aware that it is considerably easier to purchase firearms in the U.S. This is a reality that we must recognize in any Canadian legislative response.

Bill C-21 does not take these facts into account, which is why I was pleased to support my colleague, the member for Markham—Unionville, who put forward Bill C-238 to amend the Criminal Code to increase penalties for those alleged to be in possession of a firearm unlawfully imported into Canada and to increase the mandatory minimum penalty for the possession of such weapons.

During his speech on his bill, the member shared that he met with community leaders and law enforcement and asked them what steps the federal government ought to take to make the community safer. This was his response:

The thing I heard over and over at these meetings was that organized crime was behind the shootings, and the streets are flooded with guns smuggled from across the border. Mostly they are handguns because they are easy to smuggle, hide and carry. That should not be shocking news to anyone. Our farmers, hunters and sports shooters are not fuelling a crime wave. The shootings are gang-related, with innocent people getting caught in the crossfire.

Bill C-238 was a common-sense bill that would have taken real action to address the serious issue that we are talking about today. However, the Liberals voted against it. They actually helped to defeat it. It was a bill that would have imposed tougher sentences for criminal smuggling and on those who were found in possession of illegal firearms. If the Liberals had wanted to show that they were serious about gun violence, they should have supported Bill C-238.

Then we have Bill C-22 on the heels of Bill C-21. It was introduced by the Liberals only one day after Bill C-21. In Bill C-21, the Liberals claim to be cracking down on gun violence, and in Bill C-22, the Liberals are proposing to repeal minimum penalties for firearms-related crimes such as unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm or weapon that had been trafficked, discharge with the intent to wound or endanger, and robbery with a firearm. These are all part of what Bill C-22 is proposing to reduce the minimum sentences for.

How disconnected does one have to be to introduce, one day, a bill that would supposedly crack down on gun violence, and the next introduce a bill that would reduce penalties for gun crime?

I speak regularly with local firearms owners. These individuals know and understand the value of well-crafted firearms legislation.

They understand their responsibilities as firearms owners and they respect the rules that are in place, but they do not understand why the Liberal government continues to target them knowing full well that the problem does not lie with them, but with criminals and gangs.

It is not just firearms owners who do not understand this. Law enforcement voices have also raised concerns. The National Police Federation said, “Costly and current legislation, such as the Order in Council prohibiting various firearms and the proposed buyback program by the federal government targeted at legal firearm owners, does not address these current and emerging themes or urgent threats to public safety.”

The head of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said, “The firearms laws in Canada are actually very good right now. They're very strict.” He added:

There are lots of law-abiding citizens out there who do possess guns for very legitimate purposes. When you look at the steps you have to go through to possess a firearm in Canada, it's actually quite rigorous. Once you do get a license, the actual purchasing, the transportation, the storage…all of that has very strict laws in Canada.

In my province of Manitoba, Winnipeg Police Service inspector Max Waddell said that while a ban on all guns might seem, and I emphasize the word “seem”, like a common-sense approach, banning guns wouldn't necessarily stop gun violence:

I’ll draw a parallel. Illicit drugs are also banned. Yet we see dramatic increases and challenges around methamphetamine... [because] it’s that supply and demand force that causes individuals to obtain these firearms whether it’s to protect their drug trade, prevent harm, to use it for extortion. Whatever the criminal element is needing these guns for.

Further, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Constable Rob Carver did not mince words at all. He said Bill C-21 “won't make any difference whatsoever.”

Despite the unequivocal evidence that gun violence is perpetrated by criminals using illegal guns, perhaps the most bizarre part of Bill C-21 is that it goes after airsoft guns.

In rural Manitoba, chances are that people have used airsoft guns personally or at least have family and friends who have done so, shooting cans from across the yard or strapping on a pair of goggles for a friendly match. As it stands, Bill C-21 will ban all airsoft guns outright, most BB guns and some paintball models in Canada as well. This bill would destroy a pastime enjoyed by over 64,000 players across Canada and risk an industry worth $100 million to the Canadian economy. Half the businesses in Canada tailored to these harmless hobbies expect to close for good, causing some 1,500 Canadians to lose their jobs in the process. This is silly and does absolutely nothing to address real gun violence in Canada.

Earlier this year, 36,600 Canadians signed a petition to stop Bill C-21's attempt to shut down airsoft and paintball. Among other calls, they simply asked the government to recognize that airsoft and paintball do not represent any public risk, and that banning them would not improve public safety. Signatories hailed from every province and territory, with Ontario and Quebec making strong showings alongside western provinces.

Canadians are rightly frustrated with this. Why is the Liberal government's plan to take legal firearms off the ranges and ban toys? We need a bill that addresses gun smuggling. We need a bill that goes after gangs. We need a bill that prevents criminals from getting access to illegal guns, and Bill C-21 is not it. Bill C-21 is a smokescreen. The bill would have no impact on the illicit use of illegal firearms in crime. Criminals do not register their guns. They obtain their guns illegally. Gangs do not register their illegally obtained guns.

The Liberals propose to give municipalities the power to create local firearms bylaws. Why would we expect that this bill would have any impact on public safety?

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, that is my point. These two bills have to be looked at in conjunction.

On the one hand, Bill C-21 targets law-abiding Canadians by turning them into criminals, penalizing them. On the other hand, Bill C-22 lessens the criminal sanctions on the illegal use of firearms.

It makes no sense, and a Conservative government would do the exact opposite.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Madam Speaker, the member touched on a theme, and I want to ask him a question on it.

The focus of the legislation, I know for my rural constituents, seems to be targeting exactly the wrong people. I note that right after this bill was brought in, the government brought in Bill C-22, which would lessen the sentencing for robbery with a firearm, extortion with a firearm, weapons trafficking, using a firearm in the commission of an offence and possession of a weapon obtained by the commission of an offence. The government is lowering the sentences for those offences committed by actual criminals, while Bill C-21 seems to be targeting the wrong people entirely, the non-criminals.

Could the hon. member please comment on that?

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question.

Bill C-21 affects thousands of hunters, fishers and people living in rural areas by making them out to be criminals. This is bad legislation.

With regard to the border, when firearms are not registered, the penalties should be more severe. We, Conservatives, introduced a bill on that, but it was blocked by the government and some opposition MPs. Furthermore, Bill C-21 would weaken penalties for the illegal aspects.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, as I was saying, the Minister of Public Safety will deny it. He will get angry too, along with many Liberal MPs. They will do that instead of replying to the substance of their policy, their own legislation.

Listen to the minister's response this week when answering my Conservative colleague from Red Deer—Lacombe during question period. He said:

There is no gun registry in the country. It is one of the reasons in the legislation we have brought forward that we will require people who are in possession of these now prohibited weapons to register them properly, so we can have a precise calculation of where these guns are.

By the minister's own description of the legislation, the Liberals intend to resurrect a long-gun registry.

That is not all. The bill misses its mark elsewhere and will waste resources in other ways as well.

Bill C-21 hopes to set up a voluntary purchase program, what Liberals call a “buyback” of the firearms the government made illegal last year. What is Ottawa proposing to purchase? It is lawfully obtained firearms as well as heirlooms and tools. Many are worth thousands of dollars because of their rarity, age and calibre.

The Minister of Public Safety recently said that the government did not know how many firearms would fall under its confiscation program, yet he also claimed elsewhere that in the range of 200,000 firearms, at an average cost of $1,300 per firearm, would be covered. At the low end of estimates, this will cost taxpayers somewhere in the range of $250 million, but other experts have said that the Liberals' voluntary confiscation program could cost the treasury billions of dollars.

As many members know, under the current Liberal government, our country's national debt surpasses the debt of every other government before it since Confederation. To the Liberals, a few more billion dollars wasted is not something to worry about. That is because they believe the budget will balance itself.

For some reason, the Liberals believe that creating more red tape for law-abiding firearms owners in confiscating their property will somehow stop gang and gun violence in Toronto. They are so confident this is a proven solution that they have even introduced another terribly flawed piece of legislation, Bill C-22, which doles out softer sentences for criminals who commit offences with a firearm. The Liberals are soft on crime. They are more concerned about standing up for the so-called rights of criminals than defending our communities.

We on this side of the House believe that victims of crime should have the first claim on our compassion. We also believe laws should achieve results, which Bill C-21 would not do. Indeed, Bill C-22 would even make communities less safe.

Unlike the Liberals, the Conservatives know our justice system must put more emphasis on responding to victims than catering to criminals.

The crimes the Liberals hope to prevent are committed by criminals who will never follow the laws and regulations of legal firearm ownership in Canada. Despite the Liberal order in council firearm ban last May, there were 462 Toronto shootings in 2020, an increase over 2018. After the Liberals brought in their firearms ban last year, the precursor to Bill C-21, the rate of shootings in Toronto did not go down but up. Why? Because law-abiding gun owners are not the source of gun crime in Toronto.

As a Conservative MP in 2012, I was proud to vote to abolish the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry. It cost taxpayers almost $2 billion, yet it did not protect the public from gun crime. Instead, it needlessly targeted law-abiding Canadians and tied up police resources.

The Conservatives went further than simply abolishing it. We also enacted tougher legislation on the illegal use of firearms, something I know we tried to pass in this Parliament as well, but was voted down by opposition parties.

As well, the Conservatives also made changes when they were in government, but the data collected on firearm owners from the long-gun registry was destroyed, so the future federal government could not resurrect it after promising not to do so. One could say that the Conservative government passed measures 10 years ago to stop Liberal tricks. I say tricks, because in the last election, we saw Liberals across the country, especially in rural ridings, promise that a re-elected Liberal government would not bring back the long-gun registry. However, the Minister of Public Safety's answer in question period shows otherwise; that Bill C-21 would create a new registry.

As the member of Parliament for New Brunswick Southwest, I represent thousands of law-abiding firearms owners. Each was schooled on how to use firearms responsibly, how to care for them and how to store long guns. Each was approved by the RCMP to purchase, own and use his or her firearms legally.

These law-abiding citizens already follow some of the world's strictest laws pertaining to firearm ownership. They are moms and fathers, grandparents, sisters, brothers and, in some cases, kids. They are friends and they are neighbours. They pay their taxes and follow the rules. They enjoy spending their leisure time at a range or hunting deer, birds and moose in the woods.

These law-abiding firearm owners strive to follow all the rules and regulations on firearm ownership as outlined by the RCMP. Safety for them is not an afterthought but the chief objective whenever they use a firearm. I have seen this first-hand, as I have gone shooting with them on many occasions.

People should not take my word for it. They should go to the range themselves and watch. For every person, it is safety first. It is always about safety first. Why? Because they are responsible Canadians.

As well, many of them are legally allowed to possess restricted firearms. Under the Firearms Act, the RCMP scans their names through the Canadian Police Information Centre every single day. I did not misspeak. Every single day, checks are made.

Unfortunately, to the Liberals, these men and women are threats. They are practically criminals in their eyes. The act of them legally purchasing a firearm is seen as dangerous. The Minister of Public Safety has taken it upon himself to overreach into provincial authority and attempt to confiscate legally purchased property at taxpayer expense.

Bill C-21 as well as Bill C-22 are flawed bills that are poorly thought out and make our communities unsafe.

After the tragic killings in Nova Scotia last year, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety shared a briefing with parliamentarians. Those who joined the government's technical call on the Liberal order in council firearm ban last year will recall the exchange. When asked, “Would anything announced today in this prohibition have changed what occurred in Nova Scotia and how he accessed those illegal firearms?”, the parliamentary secretary for Public Safety replied, “C'est pas l'objectif”. That is not the bill's objective.

Other than using a national tragedy to vilify and harass law-abiding firearm owners, what would Bill C-21 achieve?

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Madam Speaker, I do not understand why my colleague believes the bill would do anything. We know that 95% of gun crime in Canada is with illegal guns. The Liberals voted against a private member's bill from the member for Markham—Unionville that would have eliminated illegal guns coming into the country. They now have introduced Bill C-22, which would remove penalties for crimes committed with guns. It is clear that criminals do not obey the law.

Why does the member think that criminals will obey this law?

Business of the House

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, we will continue the debate on the budget presented on Monday by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

Tomorrow, we will debate Bill C-21, the firearms act, at second reading.

When we return on Monday, we will have the fourth and final day of debate on the budget.

On Tuesday, we will resume the second reading debate of Bill C-12, an act respecting transparency and accountability in Canada's efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

On Wednesday of next week, we will continue with the second reading debate of Bill C-19, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response).

On Thursday, we will have the first of eight opposition days in the current supply cycle.

Finally, on Friday morning, we will start with a debate on Bill C-22, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, followed in the afternoon by a debate on Bill S-3, an act to amend the Offshore Health and Safety Act.

That is all.