Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a very important issue on behalf of the residents of Waterloo—Wellington. It is obvious the hon. member for Calgary Centre has worked very hard to bring this matter to the attention of the House as a votable item. His desire to improve the law, to redress the anomaly he perceives in the legislation and his suggestions for reform outlined in the bill before us today are examples of the impact private members can have in the Parliament of Canada.
The hon. member is doing the House and the government a service by identifying an area of the Criminal Records Act that affects the process of granting pardons and the subsequent treatment of both the pardoned records and the pardoned individual. He points out that the current provisions of the act could favour the pardoned individual to the possible detriment of society at large.
It follows therefore that the proposals put forward by the hon. member may adversely affect Canadians with criminal records even after they have successfully turned their lives around and been given the benefit of a pardon. Therefore by proposing solutions as he has done the member is contradicting the apparent intent of the legislation which at its inception was duly considered and approved by those who went before us and by the members of the other place.
While we might all benefit from his industrious example and emulate his thoughtful efforts, we must carefully consider what he is saying. He clearly believes that the reasoning applied in drafting our current Criminal Records Act and indeed the human rights act was somehow faulty. This is a level of intervention we must all take seriously. I find that my attention is immediately engaged when it becomes necessary to amend our human rights act to accomplish a legislative change that is otherwise put forward as a positive reform. Most often we discuss issues in terms of generalities or as they say now at the macro level.
However, in our jobs there can be insufficient time to respond fully to the concerns of individual constituents. This is particularly problematic when the issue concerns those citizens who do not have experience in dealing with the mechanism of government and who feel powerless in the face of bureaucratic rules. Also left out are those who do not have an organized or sophisticated proponent to speak loudly for their rights.
The hon. member for Calgary Centre has taken the time to be just such an advocate by responding to reports of harm done in a few individual cases. I am not saying for a moment that harm has not befallen Canadians or that individual tragedies are unimportant. They are. In particular I recognize the level of concern we must bring to bear on the protection of young Canadians from sexual predators. Nothing that may occupy our time in this place is more important than the safety of those least able to defend themselves.
Nonetheless, difficulties may arise from the pursuit of solutions based on specific experiences however distressing and tragic. I could offer as examples some of the most recent cases of deplorable, repeated and devastating child sexual abuse where the predators had no previous record to be found, pardoned or otherwise. In others, the organizations responsible for the offenders' involvement in positions of trust had not only made no effort to investigate the offenders' backgrounds but also had actively shielded them from complaints and possibility of investigations. In light of these examples, it is possible that the proposal put forth through Bill C-284 may be either incomplete or somewhat misdirected.
I believe that more and more the role of the private member may be to respond to the needs and aspirations of individual citizens. This is why I believe the effort of the member for Calgary Centre in identifying a possible source of inequity and harm and in proposing legislative solutions is so important. By sponsoring the initiative before us today, my honourable colleague has fulfilled his most important obligation as a private member.
What problem has my colleague identified and what solutions does he propose? The purpose of Bill C-284 is to amend the Criminal Records Act to provide for the automatic revelation of the pardoned criminal records of offences relating to the sexual exploitation of children should the offender thereafter seek a position as a caregiver, coach or in another role in which he or she might have power and influence over young people.
Bill C-284 is limited in focus to a single primary objective. It seeks to address concerns over the current act which requires that the records of those who are granted a pardon be sealed and set aside to be revealed only in a very particular circumstance and only on the approval of the Solicitor General of Canada. The proposal suggests a pardon that could be set aside in a much more casual way at the stroke of a bureaucratic pen. We must proceed very cautiously in this regard.
It should be noted that regardless of the disposition of a criminal record reference to the particulars of a case may exist in various locations and be under the control of various authorities. When the Criminal Records Act was passed the limited effect of pardons granted under its auspices was acknowledged.
As I am sure other hon. members will mention, only the release of federal records is directly constrained through the granting of a pardon.
There may be local court and police records that persist and certainly the original media coverage and local knowledge of the crimes in question remain unimpeded except by the passage of time. Such historical records are becoming more available through the search capabilities of our society's increasingly sophisticated electronic research tools. The benefits of a pardon are limited but the hon. member nonetheless seeks today to remove even this relief from certain pardoned offenders.
My colleague's proposal for the revelation of records in a narrow and specific fashion may prove difficult to implement. I reiterate that there is no single exclusive record keeping system in the country. Due to the federal nature of our political arrangements, records of criminal occurrences including records of arrest, trial, conviction and conditional release and supervision may exist in many places. As mentioned, media reports are more likely to exist in cases that may be of such a serious and shocking nature that they may lend themselves to media sensationalization. These are the records the hon. member seeks to remove from the protection of pardons under the Criminal Records Act.
A further complication is that the pardoned record sought in the interest of a children's safety offence may form part of a series of charges and dispositions. Should these more or less related convictions also come to light? I think not.
Perhaps the most significant flaw in the hon. member's bill is that it ignores that the Criminal Records Act already provides for disclosure and indeed revocation of pardoned records where necessary and appropriate.
Under section 6 of the act the solicitor general may at any time disclose a pardoned record to any person where the minister is satisfied that it is desirable to do so in the interests of the administration of justice or for any purpose related to national or international safety or security. This is a very broad test if not an onerous standard to meet. Any person or organization may make an application for the unsealing and disclosure of an ex-offender's pardoned record.
Further, under section 7.2 of the act a pardon will be automatically revoked if the person is ever again convicted of an indictable federal offence. It does not end there. Under section 6.2 of the act there can be limited disclosure of the existence of a pardoned record to police forces under specified circumstances.
I mention all of this because the bill before us today seeks to provide corrective solutions to a factor that may not be as problematic as it first appears. Let us be clear that there are already a number of straightforward mechanisms for disclosing or revoking a pardoned record in appropriate circumstances. Many people have advocated more substantial reform during the past decade. Specific proposals have been developed which identify other provisions under the current act which would benefit from review and amendment.
Representatives of some provincial governments have made their views known, as has the voluntary sector active in the criminal justice system. These wider reforms are intended to address identified inconsistencies as well as important areas of possible improvement which have been put forward.
If the outcome of the member's work to date has been that the government is moving ahead to complete a review of outstanding issues focusing particularly on the areas to which my friend has drawn our attention, I suggest this has been an indication of the close collaboration between private members and the government. This would amount to proof of the effect that one member speaking for the rights of private citizens and constituents can have in changing the laws in Canada.
In wrapping up I return to a theme which I commented on earlier, the important role of private members' bills and the often unheralded accomplishments of those members who identify problems. I thank the hon. member for bringing that to our attention.