Mr. Chair, in light of the urgent need presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and in particular a situation brought to our attention in Saskatchewan, PPSC has agreed to conduct the prosecution of violations of bylaws passed pursuant to the Indian Act and which are directly related to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
This initiative is being limited to Indian Act bylaws in order to ensure that PPSC has the legal jurisdiction required to conduct these prosecutions. This arrangement can be instituted upon an indigenous community requesting that PPSC conduct these prosecutions and entering into a protocol agreement which makes clear that proceedings are being conducted on behalf of the Government of Canada. This protocol, and in particular the wording “in relation to” proceedings conducted on behalf of the Government of Canada, is required in order to give PPSC jurisdiction to prosecute.
In addition, PPSC will only prosecute bylaws that have been reviewed to ensure that they comply with the Indian Act as well as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The PPSC will provide legal advice in respect to investigation and prosecution of these Indian Act bylaws to the applicable law enforcement agency, whether that be an indigenous community's own police service, provincial police or the RCMP, as the case may be.
Currently, PPSC has entered into 11 such protocol agreements with communities in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. We are just now starting to see charges referred to under these bylaws. We are currently also in discussion with several communities in various other parts of the country.
To be clear, this is a temporary measure and is not in any way meant to represent the solution to the broader issue of who should prosecute indigenous community laws and the process that should be followed in doing so. This measure is not being imposed on any community and it is not meant to displace arrangements that may already be in place to prosecute community bylaws or to prosecute provincial laws that may apply in a given community.
I will now turn back to Mr. Richstone for some concluding remarks.