Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member and my friend, and I use the word deliberately, from New Brunswick. I always enjoy his contributions to the justice committee and I certainly compliment him on his contribution to this and other debates.
As he knows, the Identification of Criminals Act does not currently authorize police officers to fingerprint or photograph individuals in lawful custody until they have been charged or convicted. This often results in unnecessary delays and can prolong an accused individual's stay at the police station. The proposed amendments would streamline this process by adding the authority to fingerprint and photograph an individual who is in lawful custody following an arrest but not yet charged.
As the hon. member is no doubt aware, there are provisions in the Identification of Criminals Act that deal with these records subsequently if an individual is acquitted or has the charges withdrawn or stayed. He is quite right in his preamble that in many instances this evidence is to the benefit of the accused.
In certain circumstances, it would expedite the processing of individuals. They would not need to be detained until the appropriate authorities, whether they be police or the crown prosecutor, make a decision about charges. They would be able to process, get the evidence, allow the accused to be released on bail if there are no primary or secondary grounds to detain him or her and, ultimately, if the accused is not convicted of an offence, the appropriate applications will still apply.