Justice Committee on March 18th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

I call this meeting to order. I am using my BlackBerry time, not the clock at the back.

This is meeting number 64 of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. The orders of the day are, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), a study of expenditure plans for Justice Canada in 2012-13. This is in regard to the supplementary (C)s, which I've brought with me if anybody wants to look at them. We are fortunate to have Justice officials here for half an hour.

At four o'clock we will go to Bill C-394. The mover of that bill, Mr. Gill, the member of Parliament for Brampton—Springdale, will be here for an hour. We should be done at about five o'clock.

For future reference, next Monday, a week from today, we will have witnesses on that bill, and then in the second half of the meeting we will do clause-by-clause consideration. On Wednesday we will have the minister here to speak on the main estimates for the upcoming year. That meeting will be held in Centre Block, so remember that it won't be in this room. The minister will be here for the first hour, and then we'll have officials for the second hour.

Next, I've had some preliminary discussions, but I have yet to speak to the Liberals. Massimo is sponsoring Bill S-209, which is the fighting bill, as I call it. We may deal with that on the Wednesday before the break; that would be a week Wednesday. We may do it all in one meeting if we get permission from everyone. We'll have the sponsor of the bill in this case, because it comes from the Senate, and some witnesses, and we may do clause-by-clause study on the same day.

That is the plan for the next two weeks, ladies and gentlemen.

With that, Mr. Pentney, I'll turn the floor over to you. The officials have a few opening remarks, and then we'll go to questions.

[William F. Pentney, Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada, Department of Justice]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am delighted to be appearing before the committee today to discuss supplementary estimates (C).

I'm Bill Pentney, deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general of Canada. I'm here with Don Piragoff, the senior assistant deputy minister responsible for the policy sector, and Daniel Schnob, the chief financial officer of the department.

Since the committee has a limited amount of time, I will speak briefly to four items in the supplementary estimates (C). The department's overall net increase is $750,000.

The net increase we're seeking for the department in the supplementary (C)s is comprised of four items. I'll speak very quickly to all four: $1.4 million in additional funding to enhance the victims fund; a transfer from Justice to the Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women, in the amount of $80,000; a transfer from Justice to the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs in the amount of $500,000; and a transfer to the Privy Council Office of $68,000 for the Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat.

The first item, $1.4 million for the victims fund, implements the announcement in budget 2012. Of this new funding, $1 million in contributions is allocated for the establishment or enhancement of child advocacy centres across Canada.

This funding will allow the centres to improve services to child and youth victims of crime by hiring, for example, forensic nurses and child mental health professionals. In addition, regions in Canada that do not currently have such centres will be able to apply for funding to establish new ones.

The remaining $400,000 in grants will be made available to victim-serving non-governmental organizations for time-limited operational funding. This will enable these organizations to provide assistance and services to victims who are navigating the criminal justice system.

The budget 2012 funding for child advocacy centres, which these supplementaries implement, doubles the existing federal funding to support the creation of new child advocacy centres and the enhancement of existing ones. Announcements of federal funding have been made for centres in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver, Regina, Saskatoon, Sioux Lookout, and Cornwall. Federal funding for these centres now totals $10.25 million annually.

The second item is a transfer, at vote 5, of approximately $80,000 to the Office of the Co-ordinator for the Status of Women, to support the development of knowledge for aboriginal service deliverers on the issue of sexual assault of girls. The Centre d'expertise Marie-Vincent does the program coordination for that.

The transfer spans three fiscal years and runs until the end of 2014-15. The Department of Justice's total contribution will be $250,000.

The project aims to achieve multiple goals, including: offering more and improved services to young children in Montreal and surrounding areas who have experienced sexual abuse; supporting women whose daughters have been victimized; and strengthening the knowledge base of aboriginal service providers so that they can better address the issue of sexual assault of girls. This is a transfer to Status of Women Canada so that they can administer the contribution towards the program.

The third item is a transfer of $500,000 to the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. I understand that this transfer was made to assist the organization in meeting its obligations under the Judges Act. As the department plays no role in the daily operations of this independent organization because our relationship is arm's length to protect the independence of the judiciary, I can only speak to this issue in general terms today.

The final item, which I'll treat very briefly, is the transfer of $68,000 in vote 1, operating resources, to the Privy Council Office for the Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat, which will support the work of the Priorities and Planning Sub-Committee on Government Administration, which was announced by the Prime Minister in September 2012. This secretariat was created to support the subcommittee and to provide strategic direction on whole-of-government transformation. The government has taken some steps already to improve and address the business of doing government. The Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat will continue to support the work of the committee in looking for other ways to address cross-governmental business improvements, and this is Justice's transfer to support the staffing in support of that secretariat.

Those are the four items in supplementary estimates (C).

That's all I will say about the supps. I'm pleased to answer questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

First is Mr. Mai from the New Democratic Party.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you for joining us today.

I'd like to ask you about the Victims Fund. Could you tell us the expenditures that are not covered by the fund?

[William F. Pentney]

Yes. In the 2012 budget, funding for the Victims Fund was enhanced by $7 million, so $1.4 million a year. A total of $1 million will go to establishing and expanding child advocacy centres. So the budget to support those centres is being doubled. A total of $400,000 has been allocated as time-limited operational funding, meant to help non-governmental organizations develop processes and systems to assist victims. It's a start-up fund for those groups.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Does that money help fund provincial programs?

[William F. Pentney]

Not really. It's an area of shared responsibility. We've made an investment to help these groups set up victim assistance centres. The money is to support the centres, which help victims with proceedings at both the federal and provincial levels. It's not limited to federal proceedings.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Very well.

You can answer my next question in writing, as you probably don't have the information with you.

I'd like to know how many compensation claims the ombudsman for victims receives a year, and what amount they represent.

[William F. Pentney]

You want to know the number of compensation claims?

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Yes, the number of applications the ombudsman for victims receives.

[William F. Pentney]

They don't provide compensation.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Very well. Can you describe what happens when the ombudsman for victims receives requests for help with certain steps?

[William F. Pentney]

Perhaps we could provide an explanation of how the ombudsman works in writing. In any case, the ombudsman does not grant any funds directly to victims to help them take part in proceedings or anything of that nature.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Would that money instead be administered through the Victims Fund?

[William F. Pentney]

Yes.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Would you be able to indicate, generally speaking, what the requests pertain to, who they come from and how much they represent?

[William F. Pentney]

We will endeavour to find that information and provide it to the committee.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you.

That's all for now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Our next questioner is Mr. Seeback from the Conservatives.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You talked briefly about child advocacy centres. I think those are very important organizations in our communities, and I have a couple of questions with regard to them.

First of all, how many CACs are there in Canada right now?

[Donald Piragoff, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy Sector, Department of Justice]

I can only speak to those CACs we're involved in funding. The federal government has enhanced funding for four existing centres and has provided funding to develop 11 new ones. In total, 15 are receiving funding from the federal government.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Do you know how many have received funding since 2010?

[Donald Piragoff]

The 11 new ones.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

The 11 new ones. Great.

The $1.3 million in the supplementary estimates, will that be used to enhance CAC funding?

[Donald Piragoff]

It is actually $1.4 million, and of that, $1 million is dedicated to create or enhance the CACs.