Mr. Speaker, I found two things interesting in my colleague's remarks with respect to Bill C-3 on the DNA data bank. First is the opinions of judges on what is constitutionally or lawfully allowed to be taken in terms of samples by any police force or judicial system.
The last time I checked, this was the building and we were the people who were supposed to be the law makers. The judges who are appointed in this country were supposed to be the group of people who uphold those decisions. I think it is another indication of where this government has gone, putting far more responsibility in allowing the courts, including the supreme court, to make the decisions that need to be made and enforced from within this House.
The question I have for my colleague concerns the innocent person. He talks about protecting the rights of innocent people. I know a lot of police officers in police forces across this country. They do not go around arresting innocent people because they have nothing else to do on a Saturday night. They obviously have some strong evidence in order for them to make that arrest initially.
Under our recommendations, the bill would make it so that it is a guarantee that anybody who was arrested by mistake would be found innocent. It is almost an ironclad guarantee with the use of DNA evidence.
I would ask my colleague that very simple question. If he is so interested in protecting the rights of innocent people, why would he not be in favour of using DNA evidence at the point of arrest? If that person is found innocent, then that DNA evidence or report would not go into the DNA bank. It is very, very simple. To me it makes no sense that we would not be looking at that kind of system.