Okay, I'll be brief.
Congratulations, Mr. Minister, on your appointment. We appreciate having you here today.
I probably should direct my question to Mr. Comartin, because he made a comment to me a while back about the Criminal Code and the need to revamp that entire package.
When I see what we're trying to do with the DNA bank, and then I look at the definitions throughout.... You see, I'm not a lawyer. I don't have a legal mind. I'm just an old school teacher who likes to clearly understand things. I see a whole lot of confusion when we get into definitions and other things pertaining to DNA.
My main question is whether I can be absolutely certain that an individual who committed a crime, say, 20 years ago, and that crime doesn't exist in the Criminal Code today--I'm thinking specifically of rape. Rape was referred to in the Criminal Code once upon a time; it no longer is. I'm thinking of statutory rape. Once upon a time it was in the Criminal Code; it no longer is. Those are just a couple of examples of what I'm driving at. How confusing is it for people who work in the DNA system to operate under a Criminal Code that, for whatever reason...?
I still don't know the reason that rape and statutory rape were taken out. I don't even remember when that happened. It used to be quite clear in the minds of people what that meant. Today it's all encompassed in “sexual assault”. Everybody wanted to know what “sexual assault” meant, so they came up with a list of definitions--everything from sexual interference, sexual touching, to rape. With regard to having sex with somebody under the age of 14, that person is guilty of having sex with someone who is 13 years old and 11 months, but if they are 14 years old and one month, they're not guilty.
It's difficult to explain myself. You talk about being confused. As an ordinary person who's trying to get into the Criminal Code from time to time and not understanding three-quarters of the stuff, is this a hindrance to the department, particularly the DNA people, in any way, or am I living in an imaginary world?