Mr. Chair, this amendment deals with the notification for victims of plea bargains. The proposal I'm putting forward is one that you first saw in the brief of the Canadian Bar Association, that is, to limit the circumstances under which victims are to be notified of plea bargains to those circumstances under which there is a joint submission on sentencing in return for a guilty plea.
The argument is based on having the system grind to a halt, which we heard not only from the Canadian Bar Association, but also from the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel. The rationale is that informing a victim of any plea deal for a serious offence could cause unnecessary delays in prosecutions and would further strain already thinly stretched resources.
This bill would not provide resources to balance this requirement, as we heard quite clearly from the Association of Crown Counsel. This would impede a victim's interest in the fair and speedy administration of justice and undermine the system generally; however, where a prosecutor will be making a joint submission on sentencing, a victim has a reasonable interest in hearing in advance what the crown will submit as a just outcome.
I also would like to remind you of a specific instance that the Canadian Bar Association brought to our attention and which I think really drives home the point. I'm citing from their brief. They indicated that a typical experience for front-line crown counsel dealing with this proposed legislative change might go like this:
A Crown Counsel is dealing with 100 cases on a particular morning where the accused is scheduled to enter a plea. Lawyers for ten of the accused inform the Crown only that morning of a guilty plea. The Crown has no time to contact victims of the ten accused to tell them of the proposed pleas. When the Court asks the Crown if victims have been informed, the Crown says no in regard to the ten cases. The Court adjourns those cases, so the guilty pleas are not accepted. By the next appearance, four of the ten accused change their minds about pleading guilty and want a trial. Victims are then required to testify when they otherwise would have been spared the trauma of reliving their experience through vigorous cross-examination.
Where that notification is necessary, this would limit the circumstances to those where there is a joint submission on sentence. That is one of the two parts of the recommendation that we received from the Canadian Bar Association with respect to this clause.
Thank you.