Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the debate before the House today on private member's Bill C-215.
There was one occasion here today where unanimous consent was sought. I think it is important for the people who may be watching the House to see some co-operation and how well sometimes that can work.
There was unanimous consent to allow a different member to move the bill because of the importance of the bill. I think all members who have spoken today recognize that.
There was not unanimous consent to allow the bill to become votable and I am a little puzzled by that. I will just comment a little on the comments of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice.
What we have heard from the government is that this is an important piece of legislation, that this legislation has to be modified in some way to be brought up to modern realities.
We have also heard that there is a law reform commission study making recommendations and recommending changes to what was section 210 and what is now section 227 of the Criminal Code.
We have to ask with some real concern why the government has not brought forward changes, which Canadians appear to want and which I think form the subject of the hon. member's bill and why he has crafted it as a private members' bill. That being said, I do appreciate the parliamentary secretary's comments regarding the amount of study that has to go into this kind of a change.
My colleague from the Bloc Quebecois talked a little about some of the things I wanted to mention. When a crime is committed, the law requires first of all that there is a presumption of innocence, that the individual who is charged with the crime is innocent until proven guilty.
In order to prove the guilt of the accused, the crown must establish two things. First is actus reus, which is the physical commission of the offence, the actual physical driving of the car in the case of negligence or impaired driving. The crown must also prove mens rea, which is the Latin phrase for the mental element for the commission of the crime.
As is indicated by the parliamentary secretary, one of the reasons we have a rule that derives from the English tradition that says one cannot be charged a year and a day later is precisely to ensure some security to the accused. How can the crown determine mens rea? How can an accused be expected to offer a defence after a prolonged period of time?
I am not saying that with today's technology that remains the only defence for this type of section, but it is worthy of study and it is something we have to look at.
The mover of the bill and I think all members here today talked about the desire on the part of Canadians to see some change. The mover of the bill talked about victims and the fact that he had received correspondence from victims saying that they wanted this change to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime were brought to justice. I think the quote the hon. member used was that the killers pay their dues instead of not doing so.
I am not sure if we do not amend this section of the code today that we deny justice. We have to examine what we mean when we talk about justice, what we mean when we talk about punishment and what we mean when we talk about closure for victims.
Whether or not extending the time period for prosecution to allow for a charge of homicide to be laid is the only way to bring closure for victims and to bring justice to society has to be questioned. Given the limitations that this section now provides, we can look to some alternate and perhaps more creative ways to determine what is justice for a family and indeed in this situation for a victim who may remain alive on a life support system.
If we look at the restorative justice models which call for a different type of punishment, a type of punishment that makes the perpetrator of the crime accountable to the victim and to the victim's family, we may find that even if we do not amend this section of the code, there are still ways to ensure that the perpetrator of the crime has to pay some penalty.
In the absence of legislation coming from the government, where I think it has recognized and admitted the need for change, and in the absence of this bill being a votable item, perhaps we can indicate to the crown attorneys across the country that there may be creative ways for them to look at laying charges even though those charges may be lesser charges than homicide.
That being said, I too congratulate the member for bringing forward this piece of legislation. It has encouraged some debate. I hope the government will take some direction from this House and from the hon. member that the legislation has to be changed. The government is taking some direction in that regard but perhaps not as quickly as we would like.
I compliment and commend the hon. member for bringing forward the legislation. It is worthy of debate and serious study as to the consequences in terms of the justice system, as to the consequences for both the crown and the accused, the conduct of a trial, the gathering of evidence, the maintaining of evidence and those types of things.