Mr. Speaker, it gives me pleasure to speak to the motion presented by the member for Niagara West—Glanbrook:
That, in the opinion the House, the government should amend Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to extend property rights to Canadians.
I listened with great interest to the impassioned speech of the member for Niagara West—Glanbrook. He spoke about certain rights being enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the importance of extending property rights to section 7 of the charter. This would ensure that governments could no longer repossess lands without due process. There would be fair and transparent systems put into place to ensure the owners of the property, whatever the nature of that property, if land was expropriated, removed or repossessed from them, they would get proper, fair and reasonable compensation.
I listened with interest to the member's response to a question asked by the Liberal member of Parliament for Mississauga South about his position on the court challenges program.
We know the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has rights that are already enshrined in it. We know we have three levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal, that have the authority to adopt laws and regulations and in so doing, they may violate the existing rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We also know that not everyone has the financial means to mount a challenge of what they believe is a violation of their charter right before the courts.
As a result of that, the federal government put into place the court challenges program. Let me mention how the Conservative government qualified the court challenges program: “inherently flawed in that it encourages special interest groups to promote issues not supported by Canadians”; “it's a waste of taxpayers' money”; “all laws will be constitutional and therefore there is no need for the court challenges program”. Those statements were made by ministers and the Prime Minister of the Conservative government. They go in direct contrast to what the member for Niagara West—Glanbrook just stated.
He said that the reason why it was necessary to enshrine property rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was because we had situations right now where people's lands or other property may be seized or had been seized by governments or by government agencies without proper due process, without proper and reasonable and fair compensation. I find it interesting that I have not heard the member once rise to question his own government's decision to abolish the court challenges program.
Does the court challenges program actually encourage special interest groups to promote issues that are not supported by Canadians? Let us look at some of the issues that went before the courts in which certain individuals, groups or communities were able to benefit from the court challenges program to either intervene in a case or oppose a decision made by a government or a government agency.
I will go to R. v. Prosper, 1994, volume 3 of the Supreme Court Reporter, page 236. In this case the Supreme Court of Canada considered that whether an impoverished accused upon arrest had a right to state funded counsel. An intervenor in the case argued that depriving poor people of access to counsel would result in equality in access to justice that would be inconsistent with section 15 of the charter.
The court held that where an arrested person requested counsel, the police must desist from attempting to obtain a statement until counsel had been provided. Justice McLachlin, as she was at that time, now Chief Justice McLachlin, in a concurring judgment stated:
—the Charter right to counsel cannot be denied to some Canadian citizens merely because their financial situation prevents them from being able to afford private legal assistance. The poor are not constitutional castaways.
Let us look at another one, R. v Mills, 1999. Mr. Mills was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl and wanted to obtain records of visits she made to a counselling agency and a psychiatrist for use in his court case. He did not want to follow the procedures for accessing these records, which are imposed by Bill C-46. He argued that the Criminal Code violated his rights to a fair criminal process.
The victim, L.C., was able, through the court challenges program, to appeal a ruling of a lower court that said Mr. Mills was right, that he should be able to access that 13-year-old victim's records about her visits to seek counselling and psychiatric treatment and help. It was only because of the court challenges program that this young victim was able to appeal the ruling directly to the Supreme Court of Canada.
There were groups representing women, children, service providers and mental health consumers and providers who intervened in the case to explain why Bill C-46 was needed to protect the equality rights of sexual assault victims. A majority of the Supreme Court of Canada found that the provisions of that bill did not interfere with an accused person's right to a fair criminal process under section 7 and 11(d) of the charter.
The court pointed out that the scope of these rights was not unlimited and must take into account the rights and interests of other people involved in the process, namely the survivors of sexual assault who must report the crime and testify in court. Sexual assault victims who are primarily women and children have historically been subject to bias and stereotype within sexual assault trials. The Supreme Court of Canada made it clear that equality was an integral component of the concepts of fairness and justice, particularly in the criminal law.
I would like to hear the Prime Minister say that this young 13-year-old victim of sexual assault was a special interest group representing an issue that most Canadians would not support.
We also have the case of R. v. Williams, 1988. This ruling is of particular importance to those who have experienced the effects of racism within the Canadian justice system. The central issue in Williams was whether perspective jurors could be questioned about their racial bias to ensure a fair trial before an impartial jury. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that where there was a realistic potential of bias, it was reasonable for the accused to have the opportunity to challenge the impartiality of the jurors.
I would like the member for Niagara West—Glanbrook to rise and to defend the court challenges program. Should property rights ever be enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadians of limited means, who may have worked all their life in order to obtain and possess and own certain property, will not have the financial means to contest an abusive repossession of their property. It is only through a court challenges program—