Thank you.
Mr. Trudell.
Evidence of meeting #4 for Justice and Human Rights in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
Evidence of meeting #4 for Justice and Human Rights in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
Noon
Chair, Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, it's always an honour to come here. I must tell you that I feel particularly honoured to be with Mr. Henry today. This is what he speaks to, as a role model, and what's needed in these communities is a role model. I would almost want to capture him and take him with you on all your future meetings. It's re-energizing.
I want to put my defence counsel hat back on, because I didn't talk to you about disclosure. Disclosure has been kicked around a little bit, I think, in terms of some of the evidence I've seen.
Disclosure is not the problem. Disclosure must be disclosed. It is the law. We should not get hung up on what is relevant, what is not relevant. The job needs to be done on the front end so that we organize it properly. The problems occur between police and crown. Who's responsible? Who's going to pay for it? So we need to have a collaborative approach, which is now being done, in terms of organizing disclosure and making sure it's done properly. Crowns can decide what is not relevant to their case and make it available for the police to look at.
So disclosure is not the problem. People who say disclosure is causing all kinds of problems are wrong. No one agrees with that. I don't think the police agree with that. It is whose responsibility, how do we as people in the system make sure it is organized and advanced on the front end.
As Mr. Justice LeSage and now Mr. Justice Code said in their report, this is a problem we need to address, as opposed to saying it's a problem we need to curtail. It's like a doctor performing an operation. You get the X-rays. That's what disclosure is. Once you've got the X-rays, you know where to go, whether it's to plead guilty, or whatever.
But please do not accept anecdotal criticism that disclosure is a problem. Disclosure is not a problem; it's the way we organize it and disseminate it on the front end that's historically been a problem. I believe the police, crown, and defence counsel are all working on this.
And the last issue, from a defence counsel's point of view, is that judges have to be able to make rulings prior to trials. So a judge has to be a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction, to give a charter remedy. We have to think about changing the Criminal Code so that a judge can make rulings on disclosure, perhaps even on charter issues, before you get to trial. This is something that's being discussed, and I urge you to discuss it as you go forward.
We should not wait till a trial to have a judge make decisions. We should have a judge who's capable of making disclosure rulings, even charter rulings, prior to the trial. The system will run a lot more smoothly, and people will pay attention a lot earlier.
Thank you very much, sir.
Noon
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Ed Fast
Thank you.
Thank you to all of you for attending. It's all very worthwhile testimony, and it will certainly form part of the report that we issue eventually.
So I will adjourn, but, members, we will reconvene at two o'clock.