There can be challenges in the context of complex prosecutions. They're not necessarily unique to Fisheries Act offences as compared to other environmental, regulatory, economic or criminal offences.
Some of the general challenges one might expect to see relate to charter challenges, such as whether evidence has been gathered in a manner that is consistent with charter rights or infringes on charter rights. There can also be some questions in a regulatory context about when enforcement is being conducted under an inspection hat rather than an enforcement hat. That can impact the evidence that's gathered and the charter protections that may or may not apply. That is something we train our regulatory prosecutors on, so they are always mindful of it and are able to give good advice to enforcement officers and so we can support them in staying on the right side of charter rights in those circumstances.
Those are the two I would highlight in particular. One that I will also mention, though, is the consideration of section 35 rights that arises in the context of indigenous individuals. An indigenous individual, if charged with, let's say, a Fisheries Act offence, although it's certainly not exclusive to that, may raise a defence that it's a charter right—an aboriginal or a treaty right. We will also consider that in the context of our prosecutions.
