Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As everyone is aware, we have been feeling that this private member's bill is wrongly directed at a minor part of the problem with the overall complaints and grievance system. I don't believe this amendment addresses that question, which has been our main concern. However, the changes that are being made have some...or I guess one good thing: “written reasons”.
The amendment we were going to suggest to the existing system I think will apply, in any case, to your new proposed subsection 91.1(2). I will let Madame Doré Lefebvre talk about that in just a minute, but I believe we can....
The words we were thinking about adding previously were “taking into account the complainant's education and mental health”. So the way that you've rewritten the section, I think that amendment becomes in essence a subamendment to this amendment. I'll leave that to my colleague in a moment. The one good thing is “written reasons”, and we will accept that.
You talk a lot about regulations. However, regulations aren't in front of us now, and we have no guarantee that those who consider the regulations will have had the benefit of our discussion or the benefit of the testimony that we've heard before this committee. So with respect, it is a bit of a hollow promise, I guess I'll call it, to say that things are going to appear in the regulations when there is no guarantee that this would be the case. Obviously those who didn't have the benefit of the hearings in this committee, who originally drafted this bill, didn't reach those conclusions. I worry that those who weren't present might not also see the logic that we've seen here at the committee.
I believe originally the bill talked about applying a higher standard to future complaints from those who've been designated. This now appears to move this to simply closing off the possibility for one year for future complaints. One thing that Mr. Sapers said very clearly is that one of the problems in a complaints and grievance system is delay. So by taking one year to take someone out of the system, it may in fact increase pressures, increase problems, and cause that person to direct their anger or frustrations in other manners.
While I do understand that administratively one year might be better for CSC, I'm not sure it's better for a complaints and grievance process to have a ban placed on someone for an entire year. In that period of time, they might be moved from one institution to another. All kinds of things might happen in the period of a year that would change the circumstances dramatically for that person. So rather than seeing the one year as an improvement, I guess I would see it as making the situation potentially much worse for the person who had been designated.
I think for those reasons we would not support the amendment without taking into account what we wanted to do, which was to say that in making these decisions, if we're going to put this in legislation, we should mandate that the complainant's education levels and mental health be taken into account in making any of those decisions. That was the essence of the amendment we were going to propose separately.
I'll let Madame Doré Lefebvre talk about that, but I think that could apply to the new subsection 91.1(2).
I guess I'm seeking the guidance of the chair on whether we move a subamendment at this point.