Thanks, Kendall.
For the final part of our submissions, we'd like to address the proposed regime to deal with the offences of the administration of justice, particularly when there's no harm involved in those offences.
Now, as I believe this committee has heard, these types of offences do play a considerable role in clogging up the courts. I know this committee heard earlier this week from Jonathan Rudin of Aboriginal Legal Services, who specifically talked about the grossly disproportionate impact that these kinds of charges have on indigenous persons. I've seen this from my own experience. I would also add that I have seen how these kinds of charges can also have a disproportionate impact on other vulnerable communities as well, particularly those which are over-surveilled by the police.
As Bill C-75 currently reads, it's left to the police officer's discretion as to whether a criminal charge is laid for an offence against the administration of justice or if the alleged breach will be referred to a judicial referral hearing. Unfortunately, in our experience, and again what we see on a day-to-day basis, is that oftentimes police officers aren't showing a lot of restraint when it comes to laying charges. Obviously this isn't always the case, but this is something that we see.
I want to give one example of what I think highlights our concerns about charges related to the administration of justice offences when there is no harm involved.
Fairly recently, there was an individual in our bail courts who was arrested for breaching a curfew condition a few weeks prior to that. Now, this was despite the fact that the substantive charge that he was out on bail for had already been withdrawn, and when he was arrested he was no longer even on those bail conditions. He was held in custody overnight as a result and brought to court the next day, and ultimately missed a day's work because of this.
I'd like to read to you Justice Iacobucci's comments, a really profound quote in R. v. Hall, which says:
Liberty lost is never regained and can never be fully compensated for; therefore, where the potential exists for the loss of freedom for even a day, we, as a free and democratic society, must place the highest emphasis on ensuring that our system of justice minimizes the chances of an unwarranted denial of liberty.
In conclusion, we submit that administration of justice offences that don't cause harm shouldn't be prosecuted at all. The police should use their discretion in these circumstances to either take no action or, as is proposed in the legislation, to issue an appearance notice for that individual to appear at a judicial referral hearing.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.