Thank you.
I do want to ask the officials something. Basically, I'm just waiting for a quick translation to be done.
Subsection 26(1), which is the initial paragraph that this entire amendment deals with, uses this terminology: “At the request of a victim of an offence committed by an offender, the Commissioner”. Then it goes on to list the things the commissioner “shall” do, which is what we're dealing with here today.
Based on the testimony we've heard today and from the previous study on security reclassifications, it's become clear that a lot of victims aren't even aware that they have a right to request this information. They're not aware that these things are even happening. Based on a review of the Victims Bill of Rights, it was recommended that we set up some sort of proactive disclosure. I thought this bill could be a great opportunity. We asked Mr. Carrie, who was moving the bill, if he would be supportive of this. He indicated that he would be supportive of this.
I'm looking for some feedback from the analysts on my amendment, which I am still just getting translation for. It's very minor.
We propose saying, “Proactively, to a victim of an offence committed by an offender, unless otherwise requested, the Commissioner”. That changes subsection 26(1) by removing “At the request of a victim” and changing it to “Proactively, to a victim”. This is “unless otherwise requested”, because it has been noted that there might be victims out there who don't want to receive this information. That's completely within their rights. If the commissioner gets a request from a victim that they do not want to receive this information, then it should not be released to them.
This would ensure that all victims, as best as CSC could contact them, would have an opportunity to get this information ahead of time without having to know that they have to make a request.
I'm wondering what the thoughts are of the panel here about that amendment.