Thank you, Mr. LeBlanc, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for your very interesting question. There are actually a number of different approaches that I can think of right now, but of course they would require further examination, and as I'm sure you are aware, there are a lot of people right now across the country at different levels within law enforcement and within the judiciary who are looking at some of those very issues.
I think you touched on some of them, actually—standardizing the approach to disclosure, but also the definition of relevance. We see a significant disparity across the country, depending on the jurisdiction, in what is deemed to be relevant information. If we could come to terms on what should be deemed relevant to the defence and it falls within the Stinchcombe requirement, that in itself would serve to resolve a lot of the issues we're facing right now.
Also, if you go to the Stinchcombe decision, there's a recognition in there that disclosure is an ongoing process. In a majority of the jurisdictions now an expectation has been created that disclosure will be provided upon charges being laid. At the tail end of any investigation this creates a huge crunch in terms of resources to be able to prepare and package everything to make sure nothing is left to the side, that the disclosure is complete. It should be recognized that it is an ongoing process that starts from the moment a person is charged and will go on for a period of time.
As Mr. Comartin mentioned, there are different technologies out there. Most law enforcement agencies across the country are using those technologies. There would be a great benefit in standardizing how that technology is being used. I think that goes to some of the reluctance from the judiciaries that we've seen over the years. As with anything new, when law enforcement and prosecutors started using electronic disclosure, it was not prepared the way it should have been. There's a learning process.
For the most part, over the last ten years we have gone through that learning process, and it would be greatly beneficial to standardize how electronic disclosure should be made and how the judiciaries and the defence should expect disclosure to be received.
This may be perceived as a plea for additional resources, but there has to be a recognition that neither law enforcement nor the crown has ever received additional resources in order to facilitate disclosure. I've been in law enforcement for almost 30 years, and disclosures of 20 years ago were quite different. There have never been additional resources provided in order to facilitate that.
I agree with you, part of the issue is the lack of resources to facilitate this in a timely fashion.
I also think of coming to terms with or defining the role of the crown and the role of police in terms of who is responsible for assuming the cost of disclosure and to what extent. Again, there is some disparity across the country.