Public Safety Committee on May 3rd, 2012

[Stephen Fineberg]

The principle that you raise refers perhaps best to restitution orders ordered by the criminal court to compensate victims. The principle that you raise would apply to that one out of the four different situations the bill contemplates, and there are still the practical objections, in that it's not clear at all that this can work.

Apart from that, there is still the problem of the conflict with provincial jurisdiction. If the conflicts with provincial jurisdiction could be waived, if section 15 of the charter were not invoked, I just want to remind you that the argument you make can be made only on behalf of proposed paragraph 78.1(d) of this bill.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Very quickly, Ms. Pate.

[Kim Pate]

Two things. If in fact the payment is due because the person has been victimized, then maybe one of the mechanisms you could look at is requiring that the state, whoever the state actor is who has violated the rights, has a surcharge. I think the concern about victims' surcharge is there. So when we're actually talking about someone who has been victimized by the state, maybe there's a way to have a surcharge that's applied to the actor who owes that money as well. That's one thing.

When you're talking about totem poles, the reference to totem poles, a common misunderstanding is that the person lowest on the totem pole is actually the least important. In fact it's the opposite. So the most significant on the totem pole is that person at the base.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much for that.

Mr. Scarpaleggia, I have some good news and I have some bad news.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Oh, well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

The good news is we do have committee business today, in which you will have ample opportunity to share any thoughts you may have on some of our future business.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

The bad news is we aren't going to have time to get a question to these folks from you today.

I do want to thank you for appearing. Thank you for coming and giving us your opinion on this bill. If you have other information that you feel you could have answered, or maybe there was a question and because of time limitations you weren't able to adequately expand on it, please feel free to send it in to our committee and we'll see that it's circulated.

Thank you.

Committee, I would ask that you not leave your seats if possible. You can greet these guys or say goodbye very quickly. In about a minute and a half we will reconvene and we will go in camera to deal with future business.

[Proceedings continue in camera]