I have a number of questions and comments on NDP-1 as well as LIB-1, since we're dealing with them both at the same time.
The first thing I want to point out.... There may be someone on the government side who can speak to this if they want to, but the government, in its wisdom—Mr. Virani was here not long ago on Bill C-40—elected to have a requirement that a person had to have appealed their decision. NDP-1 and LIB-1 both do away with that that requirement. It's no longer a requirement to have appealed your decision.
That's a fundamental change in the bill as it was received by this committee a short time ago and as it was presented to this committee by the Minister of Justice. It's a fundamental change because, in one instance, an individual would have been convicted at trial and then would have appealed their decision and then, presumably having had their conviction upheld, would then avail themselves of of the commission. That would be the bill as proposed. The bill as amended, should NDP-1 or LIB-1 be successful, would eliminate the requirement for an individual to have appealed the decision.
I guess my question, Ms. Besner, is if the department has done an analysis of the international situation.... We had testimony here from the U.K. and from North Carolina. It was interesting. North Carolina is the only state in the U.S. that has a commission like this. Of all the many states, there's only one that has this commission.
It was interesting to hear from an individual from that commission, who gave testimony that “factual innocence” was the bar by which somebody could avail themselves of the commission. There has to be a finding of factual innocence. There's quite a high bar of entry to the commission. One of the bars of entry in our system, as proposed by Bill C-40, is that an individual has to have appealed their decision. That's showing some degree of faith in our system.
I have to agree with what Mr. Van Popta said. We're trying to address, certainly from my perspective, issues around someone who is innocent, someone who was convicted of a crime they did not commit. That shouldn't happen in any country. It shouldn't happen in Canada that someone can be convicted of a crime they didn't commit. However, being human, we fail. Everyone can get it wrong within the system. The police could get it wrong, the prosecutor could get it wrong or the judge could get it wrong, because we're all human. Therefore, when new evidence arises that an individual did not commit the offence, that they were wrongfully convicted, as has happened in many high-profile cases in Canada, there's a process in our country whereby individuals avail themselves of relief.
My question is on the international experience. When the department drafted this legislation and provided advice to the minister, and the minister presented the legislation to us, the minister chose—the government chose—to maintain a requirement that an individual would have appealed the decision. These two amendments fundamentally alter that.
If you don't know, that's fine, but I want to ask this: Has there been a comparison with any international peers on this requirement that an individual has to have appealed?