Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to debate the motion introduced by the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles concerning the proceeds of crime.
In this motion, we are asked to consider the introduction of potential government legislation that would reverse the burden of proof regarding the proceeds of crime, requiring persons who have been found guilty to demonstrate on a balance of probabilities that their assets are not proceeds of their criminal activities. This motion follows up on a bill introduced in this session by the same member—Bill C-242—which in fact proposes such a reverse onus provision be added to the Criminal Code.
I am pleased to be able to agree with the impetus behind this opposition motion. Indeed, it is a principle already of Canadian law that persons convicted of offences should not be permitted to keep the proceeds of their crime.
The reasoning behind this principle is clear. If property, benefits or advantages have been gained by convicted persons from their crime, this is considered to be illicit property, benefits or gains and is not legitimately in that person's ownership or control. It should be forfeited.
The principle is clear. As a result, we have had provisions in our law for some time now that follow up on those principles. I would refer hon. members to an entire part of the Criminal Code, part XII.2, which deals extensively with this very subject.
The potential legislation we are being asked to contemplate today is not a new matter. It is already the subject of previous government initiatives and extensive legislative provisions.
What we are being asked to consider in the motion before the House today are potential improvements to the current legislative provisions, ones which would build upon our current capacity to forfeit the proceeds of crime.
The government is very willing to consider improvements in this area of the law. The bill which the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles introduced was noted with interest by the government. I can assure the House that government policy review in the area of proceeds of crime has taken place with a specific focus on what legislative changes consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms would be advisable.
Further, this issue was discussed during a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for Justice in January 2005. At that meeting, the Minister of Justice Canada indicated his receptiveness to reviewing the current proceeds of crime provisions. The following public news release was made at the conclusion of discussions of federal, provincial and territorial ministers.
Ministers discussed proposals to change the Criminal Code to create a reverse onus for the proceeds of crime regime. Offenders would have to prove on a balance of probabilities that their property is not the proceeds of crime.
All ministers agreed that the ability to obtain the forfeiture of proceeds of crime is needed and the federal justice minister said he intends to move forward as quickly as possible with changes that meet charter requirements.
Changes in this area are clearly something that the Minister of Justice is interested in pursuing. It may be asked why legislative provisions are in place currently in the law and why we need to consider additional legislation. The background and reasoning underlying this is clear and is referred to directly in the bill that has already been introduced by the hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.
The main impetus is organized crime. Organized crime is behind a substantial portion of serious crime in Canada, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal trafficking in firearms, smuggling of contraband tobacco, exploitation of women in organized prostitution, money laundering, credit card fraud, and other criminal activities as well. As a result, organized crime continues to have a substantial negative impact on our communities and our country as a whole.
Canada has specific and strong laws in place to deal with organized crime of which the proceeds of crime provisions currently in the Criminal Code are an important element.
In addition to proceeds of crime sections of the code, I would remind hon. members that legislation such as Bill C-95 enacted in 1997 introduced the definition of criminal organization into the Criminal Code and introduced a specific criminal organization offence.
Among its measures the 1997 legislation also provided special rules regarding wiretap authorizations for investigations relating to criminal organizations. It created the power to order the forfeiture of offence related property in respect of criminal organization offences. It created a power to order a person to enter into a recognizance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour where there is a fear on reasonable grounds that the person will commit a criminal organization offence.
The government did not stop there in its efforts to address organized crime. There have been a number of additional new initiatives, specifically for example in areas directly related to proceeds of crime.
The government introduced and Parliament enacted the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act in 2000. This legislation requires financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, life insurance companies, money service businesses and so forth to report certain types of transactions to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, commonly known as FINTRAC. Additional measures to combat money laundering related to terrorism were introduced in 2002 when this act was renamed the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act.