Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to thank the committee for the opportunity to be part of this discussion about C-26, the citizen's arrest and self-defence act. I actually spent 15 years teaching martial arts and self-defence, in particular, to a variety of youth and adults. Some of my students had to use some of the skills I taught them. Hopefully, most of them didn't have to use it because of their communication skills and whatnot.
Over my career, I found that every time I spoke with either a lawyer, the RCMP, or various law enforcement officers, there was never a clear case where they could tell, in any case, what exactly constitutes self-defence for the reasonable person. I do have some questions with regard to this, and I'm going to be directing them to the constable.
The reforms proposed in this bill would include a list of factors the court could consider in determining whether the person's actions were reasonable. Again, examples, Mr. Chair, would be pre-existing relationships between the parties, including the history of any violence, and the proportionality between the harm threatened and the response in turn.
Now, specific to the constable, that defence would be available for a person who commits any type of act for a defensive purpose. Again, as a former martial arts instructor, you would always try to encourage another way than outright confrontation, such as if they could retreat or get away. This may put them in a situation where they may have to commit what would typically be a crime—like stealing a car to flee an attacker or trespassing on property—as long as it's reasonable under the circumstances.
My question for the constable is that the current law is limited to justifying the act of force only. What do you think, sir, of these reforms and their ability to provide that protection when they are reasonably used?
