Justice Committee on March 29th, 2022

[Chad Westmacott]

It goes to what I was saying earlier, which is that we want to take a trauma-informed response that respects the choice of the victims. Moving to a system where the victims automatically receive our information does not respect that trauma-informed response or the choice of victims. It is very important that victims have that opportunity to decide if they want to receive that information, or have the ability to not receive that information if they do not want to receive it.

In order to ensure that victims have the information available to them in terms of registering and how to receive that information, that is one of the key pieces of information available through the national office for victims. As I mentioned, that information is available both in hard copy, free of charge, and on the website, in a number of different languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Mr. Cooper.

Next, for five minutes, we have Madam Dhillon.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to focus my questions on discrimination against marginalized people. We see them often within the criminal justice system itself.

My first question will be for Ms. Bouchard.

You spoke about matters coming before the ombudsperson. Can you please explain to the committee how many of these issues or complaints are regarding racism in the system and whether it comes from the victims' side, the offenders' side, or both? How are these resolved?

[Stéphanie Bouchard]

You are referring to my remarks where I spoke about the justice complaint mechanism that we developed after the coming into force of the CVBR.

I can't speak to all the different questions and data that you asked for specifically or to whether we have the numbers for all the various types of complaints. What I can say is that all our annual reports are published online, and so far, since 2015, there have been only two CVBR complaints that were found to meet the complaint mechanism that exists for Justice Canada.

One thing to remember is that Justice doesn't provide direct services to victims of crime, so mostly complaints relate to the right to information and to the Parole Board funding that's provided through the victims fund to permit victims to attend Parole Board hearings.

Most inquiries we receive relate to PT administration of justice or various complaints. We make an effort to respond to each inquiry that comes through the complaints mechanism and provide the person with information regarding where they can access the proper source for information, either directly through PT victims services or through the victims services directory that's available on our website, which permits victims to enter their postal code and find the resources that are near them.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Thank you.

Go ahead.

[Kirstan Gagnon]

I would just add that, for Correctional Services Canada, we have a complaint process as well. We received 10 complaints last year over 40,000 contacts, so there were very few.

They relate mainly to rights, so to information protection and participation and to those who seek restitution, but not to racism.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

That's perfect. Thank you so much.

Both the PBC and CSC have regional advisory committees. With such an approach whereby you get victims to volunteer to be on these committees, can you please tell us what percentage of people who sit on these committees are marginalized? If you don't have that information, could you please provide it to the committee after?

Thank you.

[Kirstan Gagnon]

I don't have that with me, but I'm happy to provide it, yes.

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

That's perfect.

Mr. Westmacott, you spoke about offender reintegration. Can you tell us what criteria are looked at when this happens and the determination that is usually made?

[Chad Westmacott]

I'm sorry, but could you clarify a little bit more the context of offender reintegration?

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

You spoke about offender reintegration, and I want to hear just a little bit more about that. Could you elaborate on the criteria or give us any further information?

[Chad Westmacott]

I'll turn to my colleague from CSC for conversations around the criteria for offender reintegration.

[Kirstan Gagnon]

I'll try to tackle that one as well as I can.

We do a number of things around offender reintegration, including the work that the parole officer does in the community to ensure adequate supervision of offenders who are released into the community.

If I may go back to one of the things raised earlier, I will use this opportunity to address the question on the national task team we have in place. We are doing quite a bit of work with our operations group and victims services to try to bridge any gaps between offenders who are on release or temporary absences within the community...to look at how we're delivering on those operational aspects, and to see if there's anything more we can do around upholding the Victims Bill of Rights in that decision-making—such as preventing negative reactions from victims, for example—and in case management decisions and also improve on collaboration at all levels—regional, national and local—so we can incorporate victims' concerns in our decisions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Ms. Gagnon.

Next, for two and a half minutes, we have Mr. Fortin.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I now turn to the representatives of the Department of Justice.

What restorative measures has the department considered?

A defendant is going to suffer the consequences of their action. They are going to go to jail or pay a fine, but has consideration been given to implementing restorative measures that bring the victim of the crime and the accused closer together?

Sometimes it is not possible to do that. Obviously, I am not asking that the person who raped a young lady meet with her to talk things over. However, restorative measures could be considered, at the very least, to correct the wrongful behaviour and assure the victim that attention is being paid to their situation. The victim must be made to understand that the purpose of the system is not only to convict the accused, but also to accompany the victim and help them through this painful process, and help them move on.

[Kirstan Gagnon]

Thank you for the question. I will answer it on behalf of the Correctional Service of Canada.

The Restorative Opportunities program has been in existence for 20 years. It is a very successful program and one that we believe in very much.

It is a voluntary program, meaning that victims and the offenders who have harmed them must want to participate. We really take the time to design a mediation plan that meets everyone's needs and goals. It can be a very powerful mechanism. We never turned anyone away who expressed a desire to participate in the program. We do a lot of work in this regard federally, provincially and territorially.

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

Ms. Gagnon, please forgive my rudeness, but I must interrupt you, as I have very little speaking time left.

I understand that this program operates on a voluntary basis. Has consideration been given, for instance, to the possibility of reducing a prison sentence if the accused agrees to participate in certain restorative measures? Is there anything in place to further promote restorative measures in the justice system?

[Matthew Taylor]

Mr. Fortin, I will answer your questions in English, as it will be faster.

Section 717 of the Criminal Code does contemplate alternative measures and restorative justice processes. Those can happen at different places. They can happen pre-charge. They can happen post-charge. They can also happen as part of the sentencing process. There are those opportunities within the criminal justice system currently to facilitate the restorative justice sentences.

In terms of the imposition of a sentence, a judge is always required to impose a fit sentence based on all of the particular circumstances surrounding the case.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Thank you, Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Garrison, you have two and a half minutes.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to follow up on the excellent questions from Mr. Cooper on the gap between the number of victims registered and the number of offenders. While I think there will always be a gap—many victims may not want to avail themselves of services—I think what Mr. Cooper was asking about is how do we know that victims are making a choice if they don't know they have a choice?

I guess this is to Mr. Westmacott. If they don't ever receive the initial information about what rights or services they might receive, how do we know they're making an informed choice? I know that you talked about respecting the rights of that choice, but I think the question was really more about how we know that they can make a choice if they don't have that information.

[Chad Westmacott]

You know, there's a lot of work done to make sure that the information is available so that victims are aware of the rights they have and the ability they have to obtain information, including through promotion through the national victims week and the various aspects and steps along the criminal justice system.

I will also turn to my colleague Kirstan. She might have something to add.

[Kirstan Gagnon]

I just wanted to add that over the past two years, we did see a 10% increase in our registered victims. It is a trend in the right direction. We do know that during COVID, the website traffic was up almost 22%, I believe.

I think there are some good indicators there that more people are accessing service in a virtual way as well. PBC might have something to say about that too. It's definitely trending in the right direction, but no, currently we don't require mandatory registration.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thanks very much.

[Ian Broom]

From the....

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

I am going to cut you off; I was going to ask a different question. It is going to be for you at Parole Board.

I have an institution in my riding where lots of people end up going for parole. During COVID, we found that many victims were having trouble attending those hearings or getting information about those hearings. They were effectively being denied their right to participate.

I don't think this was intentional, but I just wonder how you've tackled this problem of getting information and allowing victims to participate in those processes when they became virtual.