Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll be very brief, owing to the time. I know the committee wants to get to questions.
I am pleased to appear before the committee today.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada has two roles: to provide law enforcement agencies with legal advice to ensure that evidence is gathered in accordance with the rule of law and, as such, is admissible for the purposes of subsequent prosecution;
and to prosecute fairly and impartially so the cases can be decided based on the admissible evidence. We apply the common law and the statutes when we're advising the police at the investigative stage.
Our test for prosecutions has two parts.
The first part is a reasonable prospect of conviction. Every prosecution service in the country has basically the same test. There's a slight variation in British Columbia.
The second part of the test is common among all prosecution services as well, and that's the public interest: is there a public interest in undertaking the prosecution?
We're evidence driven. The police use intelligence to help guide their investigation. By the time we are involved our focus concerns evidence and evidence gathering.
Our considerations are not political nor are they contingent on whether a law is appropriate. We apply the public interest to the second part of the test, and if there's sufficient evidence, the ordinary rule is that you go ahead with the prosecution. When you get to a point of public interest, the public interest criteria are spelled out in our deskbook: what you can and can't consider.
We are not investigators. Law enforcement agencies independently select the individuals they investigate and determine the scope of that investigation. At the investigation stage, our role is to provide advice, so our communications with law enforcement are subject to solicitor-client privilege.
We also assist them in obtaining judicial authorizations, including search warrants, restraint orders, special search warrants, production orders, and wiretap applications.
What does that mean in relation to the proceeds of crime and money laundering? We have no control over the types or number of cases under investigation or referred to us for prosecution.
We're independent of the police throughout the whole process, just as they are of us. They're both important constitutional principles. At the prosecution stage we'll consult them, but at the end of the day, the decision is ours to make independently.
The DPP and the prosecution service have no reporting relationship with the Minister of Justice. Our role, as I said, is on the prosecution side. We're often consulted about policy matters and will offer our operational view on the implications. But the wisdom of a law, whether it should or shouldn't be made, is not our domain. Our domain is to assist with the operational impacts and to provide that advice.
Finally, we're one of 11 prosecuting services in the country. Parliament has given that responsibility to the provinces and to us. There is some limited overlap in areas like organized crime—we deal with organized crime touching on drugs—and market fraud. We also have joint jurisdiction on terrorism, although to date all terrorism prosecutions have been undertaken by the PPSC. There's considerable co-operation on an operational level among all the jurisdictions—but we are distinct. We prosecute all the federal statutes, including the Criminal Code as it relates to organized crime and terrorism. The provinces will prosecute the Criminal Code on such offences as fraud, as I said already. In the northern territories, the PPSC prosecutes all criminal offences, both the drug offences and the Criminal Code offences that you would normally think of.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada is responsible for prosecuting money laundering and possession of proceeds of crime when the offence is under federal jurisdiction, as well as terrorist financing offences. The service is also responsible for prosecutions under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
I would now be happy to answer your questions.
Thank you.