Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Calgary East.
I am pleased to rise today in support of the motion brought forward by my colleague, the hon. justice critic for the Bloc. I have had an opportunity to work with him on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. He is a tireless advocate on behalf of his constituents. He also has a keen interest in this topic.
The motion, which calls on the government to take some action to help combat organized crime, I think is an excellent one. It is one which makes a lot of sense. It will have a real impact on criminal organizations' ability to conduct and to continue to sustain themselves after one of their members has been convicted of a serious criminal offence.
All too often we have seen with the theft of automobiles, with large grow operations, and with other illicit criminal activities that individuals are arrested for their offences, are tried and are convicted in a court of law, but our Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires that we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the persons are guilty of their offences. We have a system that I feel is too lax. We do not have truth in sentencing. Our statutory release system allows people back on to the streets far too easily. Oftentimes criminals, even those convicted of serious offences, do not serve their time in prison but receive conditional sentences where they serve their time in the community. They are back on the street and back in action quite quickly.
The only way to really impact on people's livelihood and to curb their activities is to hit them in the wallet. This is what the motion would do if the government acts. Our party has consistently called for measures to crack down on organized crime. This motion will go a long way toward doing that.
It is important to note the extent of collaboration now within and among criminal groups. It has broadened greatly in recent years. We hear about the networking that takes place in prison for example between members of the traditional Mafia and the Hell's Angels. Organized crime is a serious problem in Canada. Oftentimes Canadians going about their everyday lives do not realize the extent of the problem.
The main motivator for organized criminals is to raise money to fund their lifestyle. They take money from Canadian citizens illicitly to fund their own criminal activities and their illegal lifestyle. Organized crime has expanded so broadly and has enabled criminal organizations to fund themselves. Our police cannot keep up with the situation.
Antonio Nicaso, a well-known organized crime specialist and author, has said that Canada has become one of the world's most important centres for global crime syndicates in part because our federal regulations and laws do not give the police the tools they need to fight them. This is an all too often recurring theme. Our frontline police officers struggle to maintain existing technology and are unable to adapt to new and emerging technologies because of insufficient funding and weak laws.
It is funding and weak laws that enable organized crime to flourish and to have the very best of technology, state of the art technology and access to millions of dollars derived from illegal activities. I might add that people involved in organized crime are able to bankroll the very best legal defence to keep themselves out of jail and put themselves back on the street as soon as possible.
Canadians are justifiably upset to see criminals treated with kid gloves and to see convicted criminals avoiding real consequences for their illicit activities.
As I mentioned before, when it comes to organized crime, the only way to really make an impact and to curb this activity is to hit individuals in their wallets.
My colleague from the Bloc is proposing a motion that would require the government to introduce a bill by May 3, 2005 to amend the Criminal Code by reversing the burden of proof as regards proceeds of crime. This change would require the accused, once found guilty, and we are talking about a convicted individual, to demonstrate on the balance of probabilities that his or her assets were not obtained using the proceeds of his or her criminal activities.
This motion, someone said to me, would break the kneecaps, so to speak, on the legs of organized crime. That is what we want to do. We want to prevent organized crime from flourishing and from continuing to carry on even after some of its members are convicted. There are numerous legal precedents for such a provision in other jurisdictions, for example, Australia, Austria, France, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland and Great Britain.
In 2003 the OECD's financial action task force on money laundering made 40 recommendations to fight money laundering and organized crime. I will quote one suggestion:
Countries may consider adopting measures that allow such proceeds or instrumentalities to be confiscated without requiring a criminal conviction, or which require an offender to demonstrate the lawful origin of the property alleged to be liable to confiscation, to the extent that such a requirement is consistent with the principles of their domestic law.
On the issue of these provisions being consistent with Canadian domestic law, that is, their constitutionality, I believe there are no significant concerns that cannot be addressed by this Parliament.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlines the right to a presumption of innocence. This has been interpreted by the courts as requiring the burden of proof in a criminal case to rest with the crown.
The courts have established a test to determine the constitutionality of any given reverse onus provision that states that where an impugned reversed onus provision makes it possible to convict, despite the existence of a reasonable doubt, the courts will find a violation of the charter. However, there are often other factors that balance that violation, such as the overriding importance of curbing the crime at stake.
For example, in the Downey case, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a provision that automatically assumes that a person living with a prostitute is guilty of living on the avails of prostitution unless he or she can prove otherwise. The objective of ending the problem of pimping was of sufficient importance to override the violation.
Similarly in the Peck case, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal held that a provision which automatically deems it to be an offence to refuse to provide a breath sample without reasonable excuse was acceptable because of the overriding importance of maintaining highway safety and eliminating impaired driving.
Clearly the importance of combating organized crime would be a significant factor in upholding the law that this motion proposes.
Most important, the fact is the reverse onus clause suggested here does not touch on an essential element of the offence, but rather is part of the sentencing. Therefore, the reverse onus provision does not impinge on the individual's liberty rights, but rather his or her property rights once the individual has already been convicted of a serious criminal offence.
The constitutionality of these provisions should be upheld by the courts. We have every reason to move forward with the legislation that this motion calls for. Certainly opposition parties agree that this should happen. Indeed, this issue has been a fine example of cross-party cooperation in order to further the interest of justice.
It is interesting to note the timing of this debate today with an announcement by the Minister of Justice. In typical Liberal fashion, the minister has just announced that he will be introducing a bill similar to what is called for in today's motion. It is an all too familiar theme, I feel, of poaching good ideas and the Liberals selling them perhaps as their own. Nonetheless, my colleague in the Bloc is to be commended. There is no doubt in my mind that it is only due to Canadians' overwhelming support for this tougher and more comprehensive approach to organized crime that the party across the way will be following suit.
I am thankful for the time to address this important issue. I encourage my colleagues on all sides of the House to help do what we can to combat organized crime and to make Canada a safer place for all Canadians.