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.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
There were 1,351 Canadian offenders to Canada and 124 offenders out of Canada.
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Yes.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Do you have any idea why such a disproportionate number of Canadians want to come home?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
You know, it would be pure professional speculation on our part as to why in many cases foreign offenders don't wish to go home. I don't know at the moment how many foreign offenders we have in Canadian prisons so as to judge what proportion of them are choosing to apply for transfer or not....
But Michel may know that.
Senior Counsel, Legal Services, Correctional Service Canada
I may add something. There are several factors that influence the way things are in the statistics. Foreign offenders in Canada are susceptible to removal orders. Many of them will get removal orders, and as soon as they get out on parole.... A long time ago we had parole for deportation purposes. We've dropped that, but we still have a number of foreign offenders who are removed from Canada as soon as they get out on full parole or on day parole when they are reaching the full parole eligibility date.
So the application for transfers here from foreign offenders and the numbers we have in comparison to other countries may seem a bit lower, but the reality is that they do get back to their own countries on deportation rather than on transfer--more so than in other countries, for example, where they don't have a parole system and they apply for transfer.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Does Canada receive compensation from other countries that send Canadian nationals back to Canada under this arrangement?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
No. It's regarded as an international mutual assistance arrangement, if you like.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Similarly, then, we don't pay other countries that house their nationals who might have been convicted in our country.
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That's correct.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Thank you.
I understand, again from the same statistics, that the vast majority of denials were on the basis of being a threat to Canadian security or that the individual had long abandoned their roots to Canada. Is that correct?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Again, I haven't done a strict analysis to say yes or no to that. I know that those are two of the reasons that are cited.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Does the department keep statistics on why applicants are denied a transfer to Canada from a foreign jurisdiction? This isn't a Library of Parliament document that I have, so maybe our analysts know where they got that from, but we'll come back to that.
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I personally don't have those statistics, but I can certainly inquire as to whether they are kept or are available.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
I guess where I'm going with this is that somebody must know why individuals have been denied transfer. There must be a record kept. Are the applicants provided with reasons?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Yes, absolutely. In each individual file there would be an indication as to what the decision was, and if it's a denial, why.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
And the applicant is entitled to a copy of perhaps not the file but certainly the determination and the reasons for it?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That's correct.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Does anything in the bill before us change that?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
No.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
So to alleviate Mr. Davies' fear of not having anything to appeal on, the unsuccessful applicant will still receive a written reason as to why his application was denied.
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Yes. That's correct.
October 20th, 2010 / 4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brent Rathgeber Conservative Edmonton—St. Albert, AB
Thank you.
The bill is very short, as you no doubt know. I'm looking at a previous version of the bill; I think it was called Bill C-59 in a former session of this Parliament. It had an additional clause. It was clause 4 that amended a bill that was then before Parliament and would have amended the faint hope clause. It's not in the current version of the bill. Is that correct...? Well, it is correct, but why?
Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Again, I'd have to check and get back to you. Since then, there has been a bill tabled in Parliament in relation to the faint hope clause and it may be that the matter is covered off in that bill as opposed to in this bill. We'll check into that.
Conservative
