Evidence of meeting #34 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was factors.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Roger Préfontaine
Mary Campbell  Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Michel Laprade  Senior Counsel, Legal Services, Correctional Service Canada

5:25 p.m.

Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

Once they're deported to this country, the authorities at the border know why they're being deported, so it's not a surprise to the Canadian authorities that they're coming back into the country under a deportation order.

5:25 p.m.

Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mary Campbell

That's correct.

I would just reiterate what Mr. Laprade said earlier. They would have the information, but it would not be reflected on their CPIC record in the same way as it would be for someone coming back under a transfer arrangement.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

That's all right, but the police authorities, the law enforcement, do what's called an NCIC check, so they are aware, particularly with our biggest partner to the south, where the vast majority of these people are, that there is such a record in existence in that country.

5:25 p.m.

Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mary Campbell

That's correct.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

So for some of this stuff, I mean, the courts have been ruling on these transfers since 1978, and I'm sure there has been a number of them. We should not focus on one or two more recent ones. I think it is fair to say that there is an effort to make this thing more prescriptive on what the minister should take into account, some of it based on what the courts have said, and certainly some of it on what society demands more of today.

It would be easy enough not to do anything, but I don't think that would fix the ills of the current system. If we don't change anything, what would happen?

5:25 p.m.

Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Mary Campbell

Again, I'm not in a position to speculate. We have had a number of court decisions, the government felt that it was important to respond to those situations, and the law continued to evolve. It's an effort to keep up with that.

You'll recall, of course, that in Bill S-2, the national sex offender registry bill, there is a provision that requires returning sex offenders to disclose the fact of their conviction abroad and to register. There are changes to the law being made on a number of fronts to address the issue of society's greater mobility, greater than what existed 20 or 30 years ago.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

Sure. I think it's fair to say that if the bill is not changed, there will still be transfers, as there have been since 1978, and there will still be denials.

5:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson

All right.

Thank you very much for coming to the meeting today. We appreciate your testimony on this bill. We also thank you for enduring the first little bit where we had to do some committee business.

The meeting is adjourned.