Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Once again, this is simply a division of the original NDP-2 into two separate parts so that (a) was in the one we just previously defeated, and (b) is in this one.
The concern that we've heard quite often in this committee and that I've heard quite often in both my previous times on the public safety committee is that, in our criminal justice system, discretion is important. We have discretion for prosecutors and for police that already exists, but we don't have any way to monitor how that discretion is used. If one of the major purposes of Bill C-5 is to make sure that we're combatting racial injustice and the disproportionate incarceration of indigenous people, Black Canadians, other racialized people and, in fact, poorer Canadians as well, then we need some mechanism to find out how that discretion is being used.
The bill as it stands doesn't require keeping records, so my amendment says that records shall be kept so that we can use them for research purposes and for accountability purposes in seeing how the discretionary power that police will have, which will be greatly increased here, is used and make sure that the discretion doesn't always go simply to the most privileged in our society.
At the same time, there is always concern that, if we're trying to divert people and we're creating a record, this will somehow be used against people in the future, so my amendment in the second part says that it does not, in fact, include any information that would identify individuals to whom the warnings or referrals relate, unless that information is necessary for public safety.
In other words, my intent there is, yes, you can use it in the case in which they were being diverted because you need that for public safety to carry out the conditions, but, no, you can't use it in future legal proceedings. That's why there are two pieces to this, requiring police to keep records and then allowing that those records can be used for research and accountability but not in future court proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.