Justice Committee on Sept. 24th, 2026

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

I agree with the amendment, but I disagree with LIB-1.

Are you on the amendment?

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

Yes. The subamendment has now passed. What I'm asking is, is it on division or is it unanimous?

Some hon. members

It's unanimous.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

(Subamendment agreed to)

Now we go back to LIB-1 as amended.

Mr. Baber.

Conservative

Roman Baber Conservative York Centre, ON

Thank you very much.

First of all, I want to thank my friend Mr. Lawton for the subamendment. The effect of it is to go back to the original intent of the bill, which is to provide restitution to frontline services that are directly providing services to victims of an offence, as opposed to broadening it unconditionally.

I want to make a brief submission about the intent of the bill and what Conservatives believe should have been left out of the bill. The reason I make the submission right now is that, if LIB-1 passes, it would make all Conservative amendments that were proposed to this legislation moot.

In my brief submission, I want to turn the committee's attention to...remember a woman named Karolina Huebner-Makurat, a 44-year-old mother of two, who died in hospital after she was hit by a stray bullet outside a supervised consumption site in Leslieville on July 7, 2023. This was a shooting that rocked, that shocked the city of Toronto. It took a couple of days to understand the context of Karolina's death. It became apparent that she was a bystander outside of the Leslieville consumption site, where several drug traffickers were subjected to a robbery. In the course of that robbery, gunfire was exchanged, and this mother, an innocent person crossing the street, was killed.

For a long time, Conservatives have been saying that, regrettably, supervised consumption sites don't address the issue. They perpetuate addiction. Regrettably, they delay the inevitable. Since the Liberal government took office in 2015, more than 50,000 Canadians have died of overdose. We all agree that we have an overdose crisis in this country; what we can't agree on is the remedy.

Conservatives always urge treatment. We urge rehabilitation, but we don't, conceptually, agree with drug consumption sites that provide self-supply—safe supply, presumably—and that provide paraphernalia. A couple of years ago at this committee, we heard from the London chief of police, who said that most of the safe supply that is handed out in these institutions ends up on the street, where it's trafficked for other narcotics. We even hear, from the NDP government in British Columbia, that they now believe that safe consumption sites have led to more tragedy rather than less, and that it has been a very poor experience. What the CPC amendment sought to do, what Mr. Lawton's amendment sought to do in part and what my proposed amendment directly sought was to have drug consumption sites omitted from this bill as organizations that could receive restitution, if such is ordered.

I'm blessed to represent the great riding of North York, which was renamed last week, pursuant to Bill C-25. I'm blessed to have the wonderful community of Downsview included in my riding. My constituency office is located at the intersection of Keele and Wilson.

We know that there's a City of Toronto election under way. One key issue in that election is supervised consumption sites and, specifically, Mayor Olivia Chow's proposal for 20 homeless shelters to be located directly in residential neighbourhoods. We all know that there is a homelessness crisis in Canada's major metropolises and in my beloved city of Toronto specifically. Regrettably, in the last couple of years, as a standard operating procedure, every homeless shelter in Toronto acts as a safe injection site.

They all have safe rooms. They all provide drug paraphernalia like pipes and needles. The City of Toronto is proposing a homeless shelter at 1220 Wilson Avenue, which will be located directly between the Pierre Laporte Middle School—

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

I'm sorry, Mr. Baber. I would ask you to please talk about LIB-1, which is where we are right now. Please keep it relevant.

Conservative

Roman Baber Conservative York Centre, ON

It is relevant, because LIB-1 eliminates all other amendments, and LIB-1 is so broad that an institution that I'm about to describe would potentially be a beneficiary of this bill.

Chair, I kindly ask that you give me a little bit of indulgence to conclude.

Every City of Toronto homeless shelter hands out drug paraphernalia. They hand out needles. They have safe rooms that anyone can use, even if they're not a resident of a shelter. Yes, we need to address the issue, but we can't be building a shelter between a middle school and a day care centre if it hands out needles.

I'm concerned that this bill will potentially reward institutions that will hand out drug paraphernalia and needles, especially around schools. That will compromise the safety of the community and the safety of our children. That's why Conservatives wanted to amend Madame Lapointe's bill to prevent safe injection sites or institutions, such as the one contemplated for the Downsview neighbourhood, from receiving funds ordered by court.

We appreciate the intent of the bill. Madame Lapointe, I appreciate your work very much, and I thank you for this. I anticipate congratulating you in a few moments on the passage of your bill, but I want to put it on record that not all community institutions are worthy of the restitution contemplated in your bill and that Conservatives object to safe injection sites or comparable institutions being recipients of such restitution orders.

Thank you.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

Thank you very much, Mr. Baber.

Are there any other points or any other people on the speaking list?

Shall LIB-1 as amended carry?

(Amendment as amended agreed to on division [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Because LIB-1 has carried, CPC-1 and CPC-2 can no longer be moved, because of the line conflict.

My next question to all you lovely folks is this: Shall clause 1 as amended carry?

(Clause 1 as amended agreed to on division)

Now we're moving on to a new clause 1.1. In your packages, you would have seen LIB-2. My understanding is that LIB-2 has been withdrawn, so now we're moving on to NDP-1.

NDP-1 is deemed moved pursuant to the routine motion adopted by the committee on June 17, 2025. I see that Ms. Kwan is here.

Ms. Kwan, would you like to speak to this amendment? Please go ahead.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the committee members for allowing me the opportunity to speak to my amendment.

The bill proposes a measure intended to address new funding sources for victim services through restitution orders, but what it does not address, and what we don't have, is data to measure against to determine if the funds are sufficient to effectively meet the critical need for services for victims of crime at the time those critical supports are needed.

This is a long-standing problem, Madam Chair. The federal government's own 2011 “Federal Victims Strategy Evaluation: Final Report” clearly stated that, “Although the Federal Victims Strategy is improving the experience of victims in the criminal justice system, funding lapses are impeding the full potential of the Victims Fund.”

Calls for justice 5.6, 16.29 and 17.27 of the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls all speak to the need for meaningfully funded supports and a holistic, comprehensive approach to supports for indigenous victims of crime and families and friends of indigenous murdered or missing persons, including those specific to the needs of Métis people and Inuit people and communities.

Submissions by the Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime to the government continue to highlight various gaps and shortcomings in victim services. Members hear this regularly too, from people who have trouble getting the supports they need and from frontline victim service providers who struggle to meet the demand.

This amendment addresses the need for transparent reporting on the gaps and requires that the minister table an annual report to Parliament, in consultation with provincial and territorial governments, on gaps in victim services, broken down by province and taking into consideration the realities of vulnerable populations, including youth, indigenous people, women and racialized people.

I hope committee members will support my amendment.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

Thank you very much, Ms. Kwan.

Is there debate?

Ms. Gladu, go ahead.

Liberal

Marilyn Gladu Liberal Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong, ON

Thank you, Chair.

I absolutely understand the merit of what Ms. Kwan is saying, but I think it's outside the scope of the bill, which is all about making sure that we make service providers that are affected by victim offences whole. That would be my comment.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

Thank you very much.

Go ahead, Monsieur Fortin.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I understand the intention of our colleague, Ms. Kwan. It seems entirely reasonable.

However, in this case, the administration of justice falls under provincial jurisdiction. Yet we're asking the federal justice minister to report on the program's performance in the provinces. I gather that this must be done in consultation with provincial government officials. That said, it still strikes me as somewhat disrespectful to ask the federal minister to report on the program's shortcomings when this matter falls under provincial jurisdiction.

I would have been more in favour of a provision designed to allow the provinces to determine whether the program is working and to submit requests for changes to the federal government. However, the proposal for a report on shortcomings strikes me as inappropriate. At the very least, it shows a lack of respect for provincial jurisdiction.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Iqra Khalid

Thank you very much, Monsieur Fortin.

I don't have any others on the list, so I'll call the question.

(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We will now move to the preamble and LIB-3.

Is there an issue?