Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank the hon. member, who also serves on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. His question conveys the concern he has.
I will quote the Minister of Public Safety who introduced this bill at a press conference.
He said, in the process, if the people wind up not being charged, then they have the right to ask that their fingerprints and photographs be deleted from the system. Would it be like returning something to a store? Would there be a service desk at the police station? People could go to the desk, say that they were not charged and ask to get their photographs and fingerprints back.
The member for Edmonton—St. Albert said that the courts of appeal say that once we have them, we can keep them. We all know police officers, and we all like them. However, we also know that once they have a record on somebody, it increases their tools to do their jobs. Therefore, they are very unlikely to ever give those fingerprints and photographs back.
This is why we have to be sure that they are taken in a case that makes sense. It has to do with flight risk, the seriousness of an offence, perhaps, investigative techniques that make it difficult for the crown to prefer charges right away. These clearly are circumstances we have to get into at committee.