Mr. Speaker, I have 10 minutes to cover two very important areas of Group No. 6 which have a direct bearing upon the workability of the new DNA databank and the authority of the police to take DNA samples from individuals suspected or charged with a primary designated offence.
The bill does not provide authority for the police to take a DNA sample from anyone who is under arrest or from anyone who has been charged. We understand the procedure for taking a sample granted under Bill C-104 which has been operative for some time now. However that requires evidence of a DNA sample at the scene, reasonable and probable grounds to believe that an individual is responsible for leaving that DNA at the scene, and then a judge's warrant authorizing the taking of a sample from the individual.
This is very cumbersome. The witnesses who appeared before our standing committee, particularly the crown prosecutors and witnesses representing the Canadian Police Association and the chiefs of police, stated very clearly that if the bill were amended to allow them to take DNA samples at the time a person is charged it could save lives. It could identify individuals who have left their DNA at the scenes of rapes, murders, assaults and other primary offence scenes.
We also heard that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of unsolved crimes of murders, rapes, serious assaults, manslaughter cases or so on where DNA samples have been left at the scene. Individuals who have committed those offences have been undetected. The police want a mechanism whereby when a person commits one of the primary designated offences the police can take a sample of DNA from the individual. This was rejected at clause by clause consideration of the bill.
We have introduced in Motion No. 10 a somewhat watered down version but still a very important part of the bill that would allow police to take a DNA sample from anyone charged with a primary designated offence who has been convicted of a previous primary designated offence. They could take the sample, hold it and not have it analysed until after conviction or after the individual has failed to appear in court.
If the individual runs and does not appear in court, an analysis can be conducted to determine whether or not the person is responsible or at least left any of his or her DNA at the scene of unsolved crimes. This is extremely important because on a yearly basis I understand from the testimony we heard before the committee some 60,000 individuals do not respond to reconnaissance or to bail. They simply skip and do not appear.
The concern is that if we have to wait until after conviction before the sample is taken it means for the individual on bail, knowing full well if he is convicted of the offence for which he is charged, that the DNA sample taken from him may link him to a more serious offence or at least another offence where he has left his DNA at the scene. The individual simply may disappear and never honour the reconnaissance or honour the bail he has been granted. Therefore it will be a frustration for police. We have been told by police witnesses that this bill of all bills could begin to save lives immediately. That is why it is so important.
We have heard from the government side that this would not be constitutional. It would not survive a constitutional challenge based upon privacy and based upon the intrusivity of taking a DNA sample at the time of a charge without the authority of a warrant. The Canadian Police Association provided us with a legal opinion that refuted that.
A testimony submitted by Mr. Scott Newark, director of the Canadian Police Association, stated very clearly that they were willing to pay the cost of a reference to the Supreme Court of Canada before this bill goes forward any further to determine whether the government's hesitancy and timidity in this area is grounded, to determine whether the legal opinion submitted before the court would be acceptable and that these tests could be taken at the time of arrest or at the time of charge.
The government has refused this. After the fact it obtained three legal opinions. I suspect the government went shopping for legal opinions. It has now submitted legal opinions to members of the committee and members of the House in support of its viewpoint.
Now members can look at four legal opinions, three saying it would not be constitutional and one saying it would be constitutional. We never had an opportunity to question the retired justices on their deliberations, considerations, recommendations and conclusions. We never had an opportunity to have constitutional experts testify before the committee as to the veracity of the conclusions that are now part of the record. This is very unfortunate.
These legal opinions should have been placed before the committee at the time the bill entered committee. We would have been able to examine them carefully. We would have had the time to look at the opinions and perhaps obtain other legal opinions from those with a different viewpoint on the constitutionality of taking samples from the accused at the time of arrest or charge.
The police have the authority to take breath samples. They have the authority to take blood samples in cases of suspected impaired driving. What is the difference? If they can take one bodily sample already and the authority exists under the Criminal Code to do so, what in the world is wrong with doing it under the auspices of this bill? Why not allow the police to take a DNA sample from an individual who has been charged with a designated offence and who has one previous conviction to show that person is a repeat offender in this area? What is wrong with taking a sample and holding that sample until the individual has been convicted or fails to appear in court before it is analysed and placed in the bank? Once it is in the bank it can be compared with the samples and the profiles of other DNA left at the scenes of rapes, murders, serious assaults and manslaughters.
I urge all hon. members to carefully examine this motion. We think it is a balanced motion that draws a healthy balance between the concerns expressed by the justice officials and the requests and demands of police officers across this country and others in law enforcement. I urge all hon. members to give this motion their support when the vote comes.