Thank you, Madam Chair, vice-chairs and members.
Thank you for inviting the Criminal Lawyers' Association to present to you today. Our organization represents roughly 2,000 defence lawyers across Ontario, with members from all over Canada. We are on the front lines daily, defending accused persons in court.
More personally, I was raised in small-town Ontario but practise in Toronto. I was called to the bar in 2009 and have had the unique opportunity to work on wrongful conviction cases.
You may be asking whether wrongful convictions really happen in Canada, since we have a world-class justice system, yet we know that they do. I volunteered, as a young lawyer, with what was then AIDWYC and is now Innocence Canada, for over a decade, working on the case of a young indigenous man convicted of murder. No single case had a greater impact on me or my career.
Creating this commission is such an important step for Canada to ensure that no Canadian receives a life sentence who doesn't deserve it. But for Innocence Canada, we wouldn't know about miscarriages of justice like the cases of Donald Marshall or David Milgaard or the now discredited evidence of Dr. Charles Smith.
Wanting to end wrongful convictions shouldn't be something that divides us along party lines; this should be a uniting goal for all of us. Wrongful convictions are not good for victims, for taxpayers or, more importantly, the public confidence in the justice system. The CLA supports Bill C-40. Meaningful reform is long overdue.
From the CLA's perspective, a robust system of review requires two essential elements: institutional independence and sufficient infrastructure and resources to do this invaluable work. This bill addresses both, but may not go far enough. The CLA respectfully asks the committee to consider three additional points.
First, with respect to the commissioner and resources, we recommend that the commissioner have security and tenure to review unpopular cases. That's not an easy job and not one that is popular, and may run the risk of political interference. We recommend that the commission be staffed with those candidates who are alive to these issues, to the challenges faced by racialized and indigenous accused persons, those with mental health issues and, most importantly, that they be people who want to do this difficult work.
Second, with respect to the test for intervention, the test has always been whether or not this person who's coming to the minister for review could prove factual innocence. That is such a high bar. We applaud that the new reforms allow the commission to consider cases in which factual innocence is not established. This should be the norm, not the exception.
The CLA wishes to stress that this is a critically important change, given the many barriers faced by the wrongfully convicted, as pointed out by Justice LaForme and Justice Westmoreland-Traoré in their report.
Third, we ask that the reporting function of the new commission be enhanced and that we rely on that critical data to continue to improve our justice system. Bill C-40 presently requires that the commission report to the minister on an annual basis about the work it has carried out. We ask that the committee consider expanding that reporting to include systemic trends on wrongful convictions and a mechanism to make wide-ranging recommendations to police, prosecutors and the courts so that we can diligently make use of the data collected to improve the justice system.
Bill C-40 may seem like another piece of legislation, but I can say from my experience that it has the potential to be life-changing for those who are awaiting and deserve review.
Our question is this: Given that our system is one that is internationally regarded as the gold standard, should the test remain unchanged, or is there more we could do to ensure that we protect the most vulnerable in our society and ensure that fairness and justice are delivered to all?
I am available to answer any questions you may have. Given the time constraints today, I am also available to conduct a private briefing with anyone who wishes to expand on these points.
Thank you, again, Madam Chair, for the time.