Garde à vue, or judicial police custody, has existed for a long time in France. Before the trial, the investigating judge asks questions, which the suspect must answer. These measures were included in the Anti-terrorism Act that results from Bill C-51. There's judicial investigation, and there's preventive detention, which the authorities want to extend to six days, as it has been in France. That said, France experienced the Bataclan attack and other incidents. The effectiveness of these measures is open to question. We, at the Ligue des droits et libertés, greatly doubt whether these types of measures are effective.
You'll recall the Air India affair, the only instance where investigative measures were used during an inquiry. It was considered a total fiasco. The trial of the people thought to be guilty fell to pieces. The evidence had not been gathered effectively.
The more tools the police are given, the more they are likely to use them. One should not assume the police would be unable to do their work effectively without these tools. Naturally, they will always say they need more tools. But one must ask whether they're really necessary.
As I said, this principle already existed in France, where the investigating judge is as independent as the president when he subjects a suspect in police custody to an examination for discovery. The system is different from ours. The police tell the judge responsible for the judicial investigation what questions to ask. In other words, the judge almost parrots—I apologize for the image—the police investigation. The prosecution gives the questions to the judge, who tells the suspect that he must answer. That is what Justice Fish said in his dissent, though not in those words...