Bill C-35 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) Committee on April 16th, 2007

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernard Patry]

Yes, and they can be released on bail while waiting for their trials.

[Julie Besner]

I believe in the minister's opening remarks he indicated that the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics does not currently keep data on the rate of release on bail for offences under the Criminal Code. I believe they have a project under consideration to do that, but it is still a little while away.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernard Patry]

Thank you.

They will come as witnesses, so we'll ask them the question.

Mr. Hanger.

[Art Hanger, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

On the gathering of stats, we've had the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics before the justice committee several times, and it's actually kind of alarming that even though the data is there, nobody seems to collect it or interpret it. I'm wondering if there are some other points that can be raised by the ministry to maybe change some of that. Is that possible?

[Julie Besner]

My understanding--and we did make inquiries--is that the data is not there. If it were there we would certainly have asked for it to be analyzed.

[Art Hanger, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

But you can collect it.

[Julie Besner]

The data not currently being collected resides in police and crown files, so that's the nature of the work it would involve. They have acknowledged that there is a need for this information. They have a project assessing the viability of doing that, but it involves gathering data that's not already in a databank. They've been approached about that. I won't speak for them, but they acknowledge the need for such data.

[Art Hanger, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

In other words, something is being done.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bernard Patry]

Thank you, Minister, Ms. Besner, Ms. Kane.

The meeting is over.

Thank you.