Justice Committee on May 11th, 2015

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

We're done now with Bill C-590. I will report that back to the House tomorrow.

We do now have visitors coming to see us at five o'clock for those who can hang around. They are from the delegation from the Parliament of Ukraine. You have a notice on who's coming. They are a fairly senior legal group that wants to come to see us. If you could hang around, that would be great. If you can't, I fully understand.

We will suspend until five o'clock.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to our Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

For our committee members, the interpretation isn't simultaneous, so you have to say a few words and then wait for the translation.

Welcome to our Ukrainian friends. I saw the program that you have laid out, on which you're about halfway now. It's been very extensive and we want to welcome you to Parliament Hill.

The responsibility of this committee, the justice and human rights committee, is to mostly deal with criminal justice legislation. Bills that are passed in the House of Commons at second reading are referred to standing committees that have the specific responsibility of reviewing the legislation and inviting witnesses to present on whether they like or dislike it, and to make suggestions to committee members for proposed changes.

On this side we have government members and on the other side, the first three members are from the New Democratic Party, the official opposition, and the third opposition party, the Liberal Party, is represented by Mr. Casey.

We appreciate the fact that you wanted to see us. We thought that we would open the floor for you to ask us questions if there are issues on which you'd like to have some understanding. If you have something specific, we will ask our members to introduce themselves and then be able to answer, but let's go through and introduce ourselves just so you have an idea.

We'll start with our parliamentary secretary, Mr. Dechert.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Dobry den.

Welcome. My name is Bob Dechert. I'm a member of Parliament from the Toronto area, specifically the city of Mississauga. If you came through the Toronto airport on this trip, you have been to my city of Mississauga.

I also serve as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice. I have visited Ukraine many times. In my former capacity as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I had the opportunity to visit Kiev, Lviv, and Kharkiv.

We all stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine in standing up to Russian aggression and the occupation of the eastern lands of Ukraine.

[David Wilks, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

My name is David Wilks, member of Parliament from the province of British Columbia, which is at the other end of the country.

I'm retired from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and have sat on the justice committee for approximately two years.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

My name is Blaine Calkins. I've been a member of Parliament for almost 10 years. I'm from Alberta.

I am a former conservation officer and national park warden. I represent a large rural area. I have a very large Ukrainian diaspora in my riding, most of whom have been in Canada for many generations. I welcome you here today.

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

My name is Ted Opitz. I'm the member of Parliament for Etobicoke Centre. I've been an MP since 2011.

I'm a former soldier, among other things. I'm also the chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group. I've been to Ukraine many times over the past few years for many elections. In fact, I announced some funding for assisting in the judiciary and moving the judiciary forward.

Canada stands with Ukraine. Ukraine will be victorious.

Slava Ukraini.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

My name is Costas Menegakis. I'm the member of Parliament for Richmond Hill, Ontario. I'm the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

The greater Toronto area, where I live, is home to thousands of Canadians of Ukrainian descent. Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to hearing from you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Madame Boivin.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I welcome the members of the delegation.

My name is Françoise Boivin and I am the member for the riding of Gatineau, which is located on the other side of the Ottawa River, not very far from Parliament. I am also the justice critic for the official opposition, the New Democratic Party. My work is to carefully monitor the work done by the Minister of Justice.

Welcome to our home, which is also your home.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Good afternoon, my name is Ève Péclet and I am the member for La Pointe-de-l'Île.

It is situated in the east end of Montreal.

I work on justice matters with my colleagues of the official opposition. I support my colleague, Ms. Boivin. I'm very happy that we have this opportunity to have these discussions today.

I'm looking forward to our discussion.

[François Pilon, NDP, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Good afternoon, my name is François Pilon. I have been a member of Parliament since 2011. I am from Laval, the second largest city in Quebec, located north of Montreal. Before being an MP, I was a municipal public servant, and I worked for about 10 years for a union.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

My name is Sean Casey. I am a member of Parliament from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest and nicest province, and I'm a recovering lawyer.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Ms. Ponomarenko.

[Olena Ponomarenko, Chief of the Secretariat, High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine]

Good day. It is great to be here.

My name is Olena Ponomarenko. I am the head of the secretariat of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.

It's a body that oversees judicial appointments, specifically for those being appointed for the first time as well as those judges who want to transfer to a different court or to a different level of court. As you may know, a judicial appointment is a two-phase process in Ukraine. An initial appointment is for five years. Whenever there's a second appointment, it's for life. We also administer the second appointment for life.

Another function the commission performs is a disciplinary review whenever there is a complaint. Jointly with the National School of Judges of Ukraine, we are also responsible for providing training and professional development to judges.

Thank you.

[Victor Korolenko, Head of the Office for Representing the Interests of the President of Ukraine in the Courts, Administration of the President, Parliament of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada)]

Hello. My name is Victor Korolenko, and I'm the head of the department of the President's administration to represent the interests of the President of the Ukraine to the courts.

I also manage one of two working groups that have been set up by the council on judicial reform that was set up by the President of Ukraine. One of the working groups is in charge of drafting amendments to litigation and legislation, and the other one is to amend the legislation on advocacy in Ukraine.

Thank you very much for inviting us to the meeting.

[Vasyl Yanitski, Deputy Head, Supreme Rada Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy and Justice, Parliament of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada)]

Good day, dear colleagues.

My name is Vasyl Yanitski, and I'm a member of the Parliament of Ukraine.

I was elected in the 155 electoral district, which is in western Ukraine. I am part of the bloc named after Petro Poroshenko, which is called Solidarity.

I'm deputy head of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy and Justice.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

For the next 20 minutes or so that we have the committee here, were there specific questions that the delegation wanted explore?

[Vasyl Yanitski]

Can you briefly outline what you do specifically as a committee, as well as what issues you see in the draft legislation that comes before you, and what is your workload as a committee member in addition to just being a member of Parliament?

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Does somebody want to answer that?

You might get a variety of answers.

We'll start on the government side with Mr. Dechert.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you for your question.

We're all members of Parliament, as you know, and most people on the committee are lawyers. We also have some former police officers on the committee.

Our government has actually put forward a significant amount of legislation in this Parliament in the area of criminal law, so I think my colleagues would agree with me that we've been very busy over the last three and a half to four years reviewing, amending, and sending that legislation on to Parliament for further approval.

We have dealt with many different issues, such as cyberbullying, where young people especially are often bullied over the Internet and forced to reveal intimate images of themselves, and there are terrible repercussions for them when that happens. We have had to deal with a response by our Supreme Court to a number of cases. For example, in the area of prostitution we introduced a bill that substantially changed our laws in Canada toward prostitution, adopting something similar to the model they have in the Scandinavian countries. We've also significantly strengthened penalties for criminals who use guns when committing crimes, violent personal offences, violent assault. We also examined a bill, which was passed, that gave significant new rights and powers to victims of crime.

From time to time we also do studies on the law, for example how the legal system treats accused persons who suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome. We just completed a study on that issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Madame Boivin.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

On our side, on the opposition side of course, we hold the government to account. When we receive the legislation, when legislation is first presented in Parliament at first reading, it comes to my desk and my job as justice critic for the official opposition is to study the bill and get back to my colleagues from the official opposition. With the help of research and a few experts, I make a recommendation on whether we should support the bill for more study at committee, or if we should oppose the bill. Then I get what we call the “notes” ready for debate, from which my colleagues can find some inspiration for the brilliant speeches they make every day in the House.

I agree with my colleague, Mr. Dechert, that we have been super busy at justice committee. Not as a reformed lawyer, because I'm still a very proud lawyer, this permits me to keep my trade up-to-date pretty much every day with the vast legislation agenda of this government.

You were also asking if that was it. No, because we have a lot of things to do in the House. We have other legislation that sometimes is not under the justice portfolio but in which we take part as debaters, plus all the work we do in our constituency offices. All in all, it's a pretty busy life I would say.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Mr. Casey.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

My role would be very similar to what you've heard from Madam Boivin, being in the third party.

We attempt to give voice to those who feel the government's bills and legislation could be improved or should be defeated. Because we have a majority Parliament where one side has more than half the seats, the voice of opposition, or of critique, is a voice that rarely results in meaningful change, but it's an important voice just the same.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mike Wallace]

Just as an overview, all legislation goes to a committee once it's passed its second reading in the House of Commons. This allows members to review the legislation, regardless of whether it's a justice committee, a finance committee, a natural resources committee, an environment committee. The committees are structured by the function that the legislation relates to.

The other important function of all committees is—and we were doing it earlier today, actually—to review the budget aspects of the department that reports to this committee. Today we had the Minister of Justice come in to defend his spending for the next year.

I would say that the committees only meet four hours a week, two hours at a time, but there's lots of preparation time prior to each meeting, and many members have more than one committee to go to.

Blaine.