The Canadian Association is comprised of those organizations of crown prosecutors and civil lawyers and notaries employed by the crown in the federal government and each of the provinces across the country. These member organizations represent the front-line prosecutors and civil government lawyers in each province and within the Federal Prosecution Service in the Department of Justice. The CACC represents the interests of these prosecutors to their respective ministries of justice and the justice system nationally.
We're delighted to have been invited to speak to this committee.
When the CACC comments on a proposed piece of legislation, it does so from an apolitical, non-partisan perspective. As befits the quasi-judicial role of crown attorneys in the criminal justice system, we do not comment on whether a particular proposed change of the law reflects good or bad policy, but we strive to provide input with respect to the likely systemic impact of the legislation on the ground from the perspective of a front-line prosecutor. We're strongly of the view that this perspective is critical to your work in making effective criminal law.
In preparation for these submissions, each provincial and federal crown attorneys' association was canvassed regarding their views regarding the systemic impact of Bill C-10. Due to time constraints, we've chosen only to comment on the legislation that most directly impacts on front-line prosecutors, the Criminal Code of Canada, the CDSA, and the Youth Court Justice Act.
Let me begin by discussing very briefly the context in the criminal justice system for these amendments.
Currently across the country, the criminal justice infrastructure particularly, but not limited to its most populous communities in the Canadian north, is critically overburdened. Indeed, it's a common necessity in these jurisdictions to prioritize cases for the limited capacity of the justice system and to triage the rest out of the court system by way of diversion programs, plea bargaining, and withdrawal of charges. As it is currently resourced, the criminal justice system cannot fully and consistently carry into effect many of our criminal laws. That's the context for these amendments.
Regarding the amendments to the Criminal Code, as you know, when implemented, Bill C-10 will make the following changes to the Criminal Code: there'll be an increase to the existing mandatory and minimum sentences; there'll be new mandatory minimum sentences for certain charges; new offences will be created; there'll be an expansion of certain prohibition orders; and there'll be a restriction with respect to the availability of conditional sentence for many charges.
We expect that the systemic impact on the ground with respect to these changes will be an increase of overall workload, substantially because the trial rate will increase. In the absence of significant tangible new resources to support this new workload, these changes will exacerbate what is already a dangerous situation of work overload.
Regarding the proposed changes to the Youth Court Justice Act, the youth courts created by the YCJA have traditionally had a lower trial rate than adult courts, generally speaking. The proposed changes to the YCJA will have a significant impact on that trial rate and the workload of these courts.
As you know, these amendments include altering the pretrial detention provisions, the youth sentencing provisions, implementing a procedure for lifting restrictions of publication of young offenders' identities, and altering the adult sentencing regime. Overall, we're of the view that the amendments to the YCJA proposed....
One minute. Wow, time flies.
Overall there will be more bail hearings; there will be more trials and a higher level of workload.
With respect to the proposed changes to the CDSA, this legislation will also increase the number of bail hearings with respect to the charges that are impacted by the reverse onus provisions. The mandatory minimum sentences will increase the trial rate as well. There'll be fewer guilty pleas, more trials. Additionally, we anticipate there'll be more work for appeal counsel, as all of these provisions will likely be challenged constitutionally.
The lion's share of the new workload that will be created by the amendments of Bill C-10 to the Criminal Code and the YCJA is going to be borne by the provincial criminal justice system.
We have heard no commitment by these provinces regarding tangible support for this new legislation or the previously enacted mandatory minimum sentences legislation by the federal government.
Thank you.