Madam Speaker, I must admit that I am somewhat surprised there was unanimous consent, but I am also appreciative of it.
This is really a fundamental Canadian issue and I think we should look at it from that perspective. I appreciate some of the concerns that some of my colleagues have expressed on this side of the House, as well as in opposition, about the timing of the collection of DNA material and the issue surrounding whether or not it should be available upon charge or only upon conviction. I appreciate that there have been concerns expressed about that and much of the debate around this whole legislation has been on the timing issue.
There is something very fundamental about Canada and it is probably one of the main reasons we continually get rated as the best country in the world in which to live. I know some members, particularly members opposite, get tired of hearing us talk about that, but it happens to be a reality. One of the fundamental reasons that we achieve that success, that rating in international circles, is the fairness that exists in our laws.
They are not perfect. There is no question that if allowing the police to gather DNA evidence on every charge would prevent certain crimes from occurring, then one would say, from a common sense perspective, not necessarily from a legal point of view or a constitutional point of view, that that might have some merit. I understand that. But when one balances that with the basic premise that innocence is clearly one of the rights in our justice system, until proven guilty, how far does one go? I guess that is the real issue that the government is wrestling with, that human rights activists wrestle with, that lawyers and obviously parliamentarians wrestle with.
This particular bill will go some distance toward ensuring that at least those who are convicted of a crime—and this is critical—will have information in a data bank. I think that will help in terms of repeat offenders or those who have served their time and paid their penalty to society. The data bank is there to help the police in their investigative process.
I think that one of the most important fundamental aspects of this is that it will provide a balance for police forces, both the national force and local forces right across this country, to access information and to access it quickly.
Who among us would not like the opportunity to prevent some of the tragedies we have seen in the past, such as the Bernardo case and the Homolka case? However, in that particular case would a DNA bank with information filed upon a charge have assisted the police? In fact when hon. members study the entire case they will note that the arrest was not made and that charges were not filed, so there would not have been an opportunity to know in advance or to have this information on file in advance. Upon conviction is a totally different story.
Could we think for one minute about filing this information upon arrest or upon charge? That would be the other point. Should it simply be done upon an individual being detained? What do we do concerning people coming into this country? There is potential for abuse when someone is held in detention and a DNA sample is put in the data base to be compiled in some central bureaucratic computerized storage compartment and used in whatever capacity. The potential for abuse is serious. It is not a step we need to take.