Justice Committee on June 3rd, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 37 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Before we get into our study on the Victims Bill of Rights, I'll just remind members of a couple of housekeeping items. First and foremost, if you are requiring interpretation, just take a look at the bottom of your Zoom screen, where you will see a globe icon. Please select the language that you would like to listen to. You can speak in any of our official languages.

Secondly, when you are speaking, please ensure that your microphone is unmuted and speak slowly and clearly. When you have finished speaking. please make sure that you are back on mute. Mr. Clerk and I will do our best to maintain a speaking list and a speaking order. Please raise your hand if you have anything to raise. Thank you for your co-operation on this.

Before we start our study on the Victims Bill of Rights, we have to approve the report from the subcommittee meeting that we had on Tuesday. The report was distributed to all members electronically yesterday. Are there any comments on it? If members agree with it, we'll go ahead and carry it.

I'll see a thumbs-up for carrying the report. Great. So carried.

I have just a note for members and witnesses. At the same time this committee meeting is happening, there is a virtual ceremony commemorating the release of the national action plan for the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, coinciding with the second anniversary of the release of the final report on the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and the 2SLGBTQQIA+ report.

Thank you, members, for being here today. At this point, I'll invite our witnesses who are here to speak about the Victims Bill of Rights, which I feel is very fitting on this anniversary.

We have with us the Department of Justice, represented by Carole Morency and Stéphanie Bouchard; the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, represented by Julie Thompson and Suzanne Wallace-Capretta; the Parole Board of Canada, represented by Ian Broom; and the Correctional Service of Canada, represented by Kirstan Gagnon.

I welcome all of our officials. I note that the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada will not be offering opening remarks today. We'll go ahead and start with the Department of Justice.

As I'm sure you're aware, I have a one-minute card and a 30-second card that will help you in keeping time for your five-minute remarks.

Madam Morency, please go ahead for your five minutes.

[Carole Morency, Director General and Senior General Counsel, Criminal Law Policy Section, Policy Sector, Department of Justice]

Thank you.

We are pleased to be here today to discuss the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights and related efforts by the Department of Justice.

Ensuring access to justice for victims of crime and giving them a more effective voice in the criminal justice system has been a long‑standing commitment of the federal government.

Federal policy and legislative and programmatic measures in support of this commitment have been coordinated through the federal victims strategy. Established in 2000, this horizontal strategy is led by Justice Canada and includes Public Safety Canada, Correctional Service Canada, the Parole Board of Canada and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

The Canadian Victims Bill of Rights is an important cornerstone for continuing federal efforts to support victims of crime. Enacted in 2015, the CVBR gives victims of crime four statutory rights: the rights to information, to protection, to participation and to seek restitution. These rights apply throughout the criminal justice process. The CVBR also requires, to the extent possible, that all federal statutes be interpreted in a manner consistent with victims' rights under the CVBR. It provides a mechanism for victims to file a complaint when these rights have been breached by a federal department or agency.

As the committee knows, responsibility for our criminal justice system is shared between the federal, provincial and territorial governments. The federal government is responsible for criminal law and procedure, much of which is set out in the Criminal Code, as well as the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. Provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the administration of justice, which includes enforcing and prosecuting Criminal Code offences, delivery of victim services and enacting their own victim legislation.

Since 2015, significant individual and collaborative measures have been taken by all governments to advance and strengthen implementation of victims' rights. For example, at the federal level, early actions to support the right to information focused on creating a series of fact sheets about victims' rights and related Criminal Code provisions. These have recently been made available in 11 indigenous languages.

Federal funding was also made available to provincial and territorial victim services to create or update their public legal education and information materials for victims, victims' advocates and criminal justice professionals, in addition to training on the CVBR.

The right to information has also been supported through the design and delivery of new models of victim-centred services. The creation of family information liaison units across Canada in 2016 has ensured that family members of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls have all the available information they are seeking about their loved ones as well as access to community-based supports. Justice Canada has also supported the right to participation through funding to the provinces and territories for the provision of testimonial aids to facilitate victim testimony.

Victims' rights to information, protection and participation have also been supported by federal funding for independent legal advice and representation programs for victims and survivors of sexual assault. These are currently being piloted in a number of jurisdictions in Canada. Justice Canada has also worked closely with provincial and territorial victim services to fund their design and delivery of jurisdiction-specific restitution programs.

Law reform continues to be an important tool to affect change and to implement victims' rights. In addition to the criminal law reforms that accompanied the CVBR, some recent legislative reforms support victims' participation and protection rights. For example, the recently enacted Bill C-3 requires candidates seeking appointment to a provincial superior court to participate in continuing education in sexual assault law and social context. It also requires judges to provide reasons for their decisions in sexual assault cases.

The former Bill C-75 on criminal justice system delays enhanced victim safety, particularly for victims of intimate partner violence, including at bail and sentencing. It also re-enacted a new victim surcharge regime—an important source of revenue for provinces and territories—in response to the Supreme Court's decision in R. v. Boudreault.

Following enactment of the CVBR, federal departments and agencies whose mandates involve working with victims of crime have implemented formal complaints mechanisms for victims. Justice Canada prepares an annual report on complaints and publishes it online. Provinces and territories also have their own complaint mechanisms.

Those are the items I'd like to highlight for Justice Canada.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much, Madam.

We'll now go to the Department of Public Safety for five minutes.

[Julie Thompson, Director General, Crime Prevention, Corrections, Criminal Justice and Aboriginal Policing Policy Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Good morning. Thank you very much for having me here today.

Thank you for inviting me to share with you the work of Public Safety Canada with respect to the implementation of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights Act.

I am joined today by my colleagues from the Correctional Service and the Parole Board of Canada, who also have roles to play in upholding victims' rights under the CVBR.

Public Safety Canada is responsible for the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which guides CSC and the PBC on how federal sentences of over two years or more are carried out. It gives life to the rights that can be exercised by the victims of federal offenders.

Within Public Safety, the national office for victims is a resource that is working to improve victims' interactions with the federal corrections and conditional release system by supporting a victims' lens during policy development. It shares information with victims and the general public regarding federal corrections and conditional release through the development of products such as the publication entitled “Victims of Crime: Staying Informed”, which is available in 20 languages, including seven indigenous languages. The office supports and complements the work of the policy centre for victim issues at Justice Canada through portfolio coordination and engagement with victims and other key stakeholders.

In addition, the national office for victims and Public Safety agency partners have developed a number of information products to ensure that victims are aware of their rights and of the services provided to them by the federal government.

We continuously strive to improve these products and develop new ones with feedback from victims.

Additionally, appropriate redress is a key element of the CVBR, which established a means by which victims can complain directly to federal departments and agencies if they feel their rights have been denied or infringed, in order to address issues quickly and with satisfaction. Should a victim not be satisfied with the outcomes of a complaint, they can contact the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime.

As part of its coordination role, the national office for victims annually publishes information on CVBR-related complaints to the Public Safety portfolio agencies and Public Safety itself regarding how these complaints were resolved.

Since the coming into force of the CVBR in 2015, the national office for victims also held annual round tables between 2016 and 2020 with victims, their advocates and victim-serving organizations, to discuss the implementation of the CVBR in the context of federal corrections and conditional release. Themes raised at these tables are broad ranging. Examples of themes include accountability, offender reintegration, restorative justice, outreach and engagement. Summary reports of these discussions are all available online at the Public Safety Canada website.

Importantly, we heard that information is essential for victims to be able to exercise their rights to participation and protection.

In 2019-20, CSC provided information to some 8,800 victims who requested information about the offender who harmed them.

The Public Safety portfolio is committed to implementing the CVBR to ensure victims of federal offenders are treated with compassion and respect, including receiving the timely information that is required to exercise their CVBR rights.

Recently, an internal audit by Correctional Service of their national victim services program found that Correctional Service offers services to victims in compliance with all relevant legislation, policy and procedures.

To further consider victims' needs in their operations, the Parole Board of Canada has established a national victim advisory committee and CSC has launched an internal victim engagement task team to ensure greater consideration of victims' concerns in decision-making.

I would also like to acknowledge that the current COVID global pandemic is a difficult time for vulnerable victims and families. To ensure that victims' rights have been respected, corrections and conditional release operations have had to pivot and use new methods and practices to fulfill their mandates in a way that conforms with public health and safety protocols.

We acknowledge that more can be done and as such, we're committed to working with stakeholder suggestions from round tables to do this.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much for that, Ms. Thompson.

We'll now go into our rounds of questions.

Members, note that we do have the Parole Board of Canada and Correctional Service of Canada here with us today to answer questions as well, should you have any for them.

We'll start with our first round of six minutes each, beginning with Mr. Moore.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think Madam Findlay or Mr. Cooper was going to be up this round, so I don't want to take somebody's spot. I think it was Mr. Cooper.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Mr. Cooper, please go ahead.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I will direct my questions to the Parole Board witness. I want to say first of all that the passage of the Victims Bill of Rights is a significant step in the right direction to protect the rights of victims who have so often been overlooked in Canada's criminal justice system.

In that regard, I certainly acknowledge the important role that Senator Pierre Boisvenu, whom I consider a friend, played in advancing the Victims Bill of Rights. Senator Boisvenu, of course, was a victim himself, his daughter having been brutally murdered.

As the report of the victims ombudsman demonstrates, there are still serious gaps in seeing that those rights are, in fact, realized in practice. One of the areas of concern is with respect to a lack of transparency or a perceived lack of transparency when it comes to the right to information for victims in respect of Parole Board hearings.

I want to just touch upon that, because Carol Freeman, whose father was brutally murdered in Oshawa, Ontario in 1991, was caught off guard when she suddenly received notice that the man who had brutally killed her father, and who had been sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years, was suddenly up for parole after serving only 20 years. She had not been provided any sort of explanation about the dates or conditions that resulted in his eligibility for parole.

I would ask the Parole Board representative to discuss that, because it is a common concern of victims, who are caught off guard regarding these dates and who are informed with very little notice of parole hearings, which are often very difficult experiences for victims, particularly in instances of brutal crimes like murder.

[Ian Broom, Director General, Policy and Operations, Parole Board of Canada]

Thank you.

I would just like to begin by saying that the Parole Board is definitely committed to openness and transparency in the way we provide information, and we ensure the participation of victims in respect of the conditional release process.

In terms of information that registered victims can receive, we may end up touching on this a little bit more later through the course of the meeting, but there is a victims portal in place where registered victims can access a variety of information. For example, they can receive information regarding the offender's name, the offence and the court of conviction. In addition, there is access to information such as the eligibility dates for release. I would say that when victims are registered and they seek this information, there is a fair amount that can be received, like the date of release, for example, on escorted temporary absence. The board has approved this, the reasons behind this and, in addition, victims can also request a copy of decisions through the decision registry.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I'm sorry to interrupt. I should just correct for the record. I think I said Carol Freeman. I meant to say Lisa Freeman. I just wanted the record to be corrected in that regard.

Ms. Freeman said there are “no supports in place”, and she basically felt she was on her own because there was no transparency about the reasons for that eligibility date, which was, again, five years ahead of what she thought it would be. She thought there were five more years, and all of a sudden that notice came.

Would you not acknowledge that that is an issue?

[Ian Broom]

I would acknowledge that there is a great deal of importance in ensuring that victims are able to receive the support and information that they require throughout the hearing process. Our regional communication officers are there to work with victims, to provide information and answer questions throughout the entire hearing process and, in addition, to refer any victims who are experiencing trauma, for example, to appropriate services.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I see that my time has expired.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cooper.

We'll now go to Mr. Kelloway for six minutes, please.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Hello, colleagues.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for their testimony today.

This study is very important. As members of the justice committee and, of course, as parliamentarians, it's really incumbent on us to hear testimony from officials, groups and individuals on how victims of crime can be better supported.

My first question is for Ms. Morency.

I understand that through the victims fund we've made more than $20 million available to provincial and territorial governments and non-governmental organizations. Can you take some time to talk about some of these projects and how they have benefited Canadians?

[Carole Morency]

Yes, I'll start, and if I may, I'll turn to my colleague, Madam Bouchard, to continue.

To start with, the federal government made available through the Victims Fund, for provinces and territories, approximately $10.6 million over the years from 2016 to 2020 to help support the implementation of the CVBR in their jurisdictions. That's in addition to funding that is otherwise provided through the Victims Fund more specifically.

I would ask my colleague to provide a bit more detail on some examples of how the federal government has funded different provinces and territories through annual agreements and Gs and Cs.

[Stéphanie Bouchard, Senior Legal Counsel and Director, Policy Centre for Victim Issues, Criminal Law Policy Section, Department of Justice]

Hello.

The federal victims strategy includes the victims fund, which has provided $125 million from 2015 to 2020 in support of support different projects and initiatives, to provide for victims and different issues to help support them in different aspects of it. It's a grants and contributions program that is made available to provinces and territories, and also to groups and organizations. Through this victims fund—as mentioned in the speech by my colleague, Ms. Morency, at the beginning—the family information liaison units have been supported through it. Since 2016, we have supported a number of initiatives, including independent legal advice and independent legal review programs that are being piloted across the country, which the budget has announced there will be increased support and funding for throughout.

They are all projects aimed at providing supports. Provinces and territories themselves have agreements that are specific to them, to provide for needs based on their assessment of the situation in their province in different areas and communities—rural, non-rural, and cities. There is a lot of flexibility and work being done with the objective of improving services for victims, including information supports, such as ensuring that cellphones are being provided to more remote communities when there is need and such.

I don't know if that provides enough context.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

That really does provide a bit of an in-depth lens on it, and I appreciate it very much.

This could be for Ms. Morency or you, or others who want to chime in, but primarily it would be for you two.

The government created a federal victims strategy to support the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights. Again, I'd like to have you or others talk about some of the initiatives that were part of that strategy. I think it's important for Canadians to hear the ins and outs of that particular strategy and the initiatives attached to it.

[Carole Morency]

Again, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, the federal victim strategy has been in place since 2000. It's gone through a number of updates, modernizations and overhauls.

The key components to that strategy at the federal level are coordination of the different departments and agencies that have mandates to serve and work with victims. I've mentioned some of our key partners, some of whom are with us in the meeting today.

Also, key partners in delivering on the strategy are the provinces and territories, with whom we work very closely to share information and best practices, and to identify whether there are gaps in services and maybe in law, or if there are maybe new or different trends developing that we can work together on to address and better support victims throughout the country and the criminal justice continuum.

As my colleague just noted, much of that work occurs through FPT meeting forums. We have funding agreements. We have a grants and contributions program that's available to organizations that serve victims as well.

All of that is done under the auspices of the federal victim strategy, and funding as a key component of that.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

That's wonderful.

Madam Chair, how much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

You have eight seconds.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay.

Thank you very much for your testimony. It's very much appreciated.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you, Mr. Kelloway.

We'll now go to Monsieur Fortin for six minutes.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today.

My question is for Ms. Morency or Ms. Bouchard.

Ms. Bouchard, I think it was you who mentioned earlier the amount transferred to the provinces, but I didn't take note of it.

What is the amount transferred every year to the provinces to help victims or the families of victims of crime? Can you provide us with that amount?

[Stéphanie Bouchard]

I can't give you the exact amount that is transferred to the provinces and territories for each agreement. I could confirm the amount with my colleagues who manage the monetary aspect of the program and with whom we work very closely.