Thank you.
On behalf of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers, I too would like to thank the committee for giving us an opportunity to express our views at this review of the law enforcement justification provisions of the Criminal Code.
My presentation will be very brief, but I do welcome your questions.
As I'm sure you know, the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers is a national association of defence lawyers formed in 1992. The chair of the council, William Trudell, appeared before both the House and Senate committees in 2001 to speak to this legislation as it was then proposed prior to its enactment. At that time he urged the committees to proceed with caution, and he expressed the concerns of the council related to this legislation.
Specifically, he expressed a concern about the potential for the abuse of police powers. He expressed a concern about police conduct that is justified under the legislation--and my friend has already made mention, for example, of uttering threats to cause harm or indeed death. He expressed a concern about the vagueness of language in the legislation, for example, the phrase “sexual integrity”. And he expressed a concern, as my friend has also raised, with respect to accountability and the reporting requirements as they exist.
Mr. Trudell indicated at that time that he wanted to look back in five or ten years and be able to assure his clients--yes, your constituents--that the legislation struck the appropriate balance. Now here we are five years later, and this committee is undertaking such a review to answer the question, has the legislation struck the appropriate balance?
It is the position of the CCCDL that given the relatively small number of times the legislation has actually been used, given the absence of resort to the emergency or exigent circumstances provisions, given the absence of judicial consideration of the legislation, given the absence of charter challenge to the legislation, and given the absence of complaints about the use of the legislation, it is really too early to tell if this legislation strikes the appropriate balance. It appears to us that the limited use that has been made of this legislation has been primarily confined to investigations of criminal organizations, and, within that context, usually to obtain false identification papers, counterfeit money, tobacco, and alcohol. However, given recent arrests of persons alleged to have committed terrorist offences, the council is aware that there may be an increase in the use of this legislation in that arena. This increase in the use of legislation may well afford this committee more, and perhaps then sufficient, information to answer the question of whether this legislation has struck the appropriate balance.
Therefore, and perhaps surprisingly to some of you, the CCCDL strongly urges this committee to conduct a further review in two to three years' time to see how all of this plays out. Perhaps at that point in time, Mr. Trudell will be able, as he hoped at his previous appearance here, to assure his clients that this legislation has struck the appropriate balance, or at the very least assure his clients that this committee is continuing to monitor the situation, is willing to hear from us and others, and is willing to address any subsequently revealed need for change. It's just too early to tell.
Thank you very much.