Mr. Speaker, with regard to (a), the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, CAHWCA, was enacted in 2000. Subsections 9(3) and 9(4) provide that the Attorney General of Canada or the deputy attorney general of Canada must give his or her consent for the commencement of a prosecution pursuant to the act. With the creation of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in 2006, the director of public prosecutions, DPP, is the deputy attorney general for the purposes of initiating prosecutions.
Since 2006, the Attorney General or the DPP as deputy attorney general has consented to the institution of the prosecution of one criminal case, Regina v. Jacques Mungwarere, pursuant to the CAHWCA. This case is ongoing.
In making a decision whether to prosecute any case, Crown counsel must consider two issues: first, whether the evidence demonstrates that there is a reasonable prospect of conviction; and second, if so, whether the public interest require a prosecution to be pursued. These same issues are considered by the Attorney General or DPP when deciding whether to consent to a prosecution pursuant to the CAHWCA.
With regard to (b), when considering any case that is recommended for prosecution pursuant to the CAHWCA, the same two issues as described in (a) above, are considered. No cases have been recommended for prosecution that were not prosecuted.