Mr. Speaker, the government does not support this motion. We find it problematic because of the charter perspective. It calls for placing in the convicted offenders index the DNA profile of persons charged with an indictable offence who have provided DNA samples voluntarily. A person so charged is entitled to the presumption of innocence and may ultimately be acquitted. Therefore an innocent person's profile should not be part of the convicted offenders index.
There is another problem in that this motion has no provision for obtaining a person's informed consent to place the samples provided voluntarily in the convicted offenders index.
This motion applies to any indictable offence regardless of whether it is a designated offence and is therefore likely to provide DNA evidence that would be of assistance in a criminal investigation.
In light of these serious difficulties I urge hon. members to reject this motion.