Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to participate in the debate on Bill C-3. This bill was considered at length in committee, and I must commend the work done by all members of the committee.
While opinions differed, I would say even very significantly at times, discussions were always courteous. The bill was examined responsibly and with professionalism and I thank the members of the committee.
On behalf of the Bloc Quebecois, I would also like to thank all the witnesses who presented their views to the committee. Their opinions were attentively listened to, unfortunately not always so attentively by the government members, but I will come back to that.
Bill C-3, which concerns DNA identification, is the focus of a number of societal debates in Canada. Science has made such progress, especially in the field of genetics, that debates such as the one on Bill C-3 are giving rise to great moral, philosophical, ethical and, consequently, political questions.
To the great distress of many, I am sure, I will leave aside philosophical and moral considerations and limit myself to practical aspects and to the actual application of the provisions of C-3.
Before going into greater depth in this area, I must, as a parliamentarian, lament the narrow-mindedness of the government in this matter. The legislative process followed by Bill C-3 is comparable to the Liberal reign. The scope is narrow, there is little movement and there is no interest in hearing not only the members of this House, but the many witnesses who came to express their various opinions before the committee.
The Liberal government, unfortunately, was trying to score political points with issues as important as Bill C-3. It is important to speak out against the Liberals' attitude, because the public will most certainly end up having to live with the consequences of this government's narrow-mindedness, its rigidity throughout the entire process of the debate on Bill C-3.
I cannot help but admit that I am somewhat disappointed, because Bill C-3 is an innovative bill that will lay the groundwork for the use of DNA for a number of years to come.
We must be aware that the technology of today will be obsolete in 5, 10 or 15 years, and the guidelines set out in this bill will be those followed when new technological advances come along. This is, therefore, a very important debate.
The solicitor general's original initiative to create a DNA data bank on the most dangerous criminals in our society is a highly laudable one. I should point out here that the Bloc Quebecois is in favour of this bill and will support it regardless, once this debate is concluded.
The partisan attitude of the Liberals, however, has blocked certain constructive amendments which, in my opinion, were essential to application of this legislative measure.
There were 14 motions at the report stage, in order to clarify, modify or tighten up Bill C-3. I myself proposed eight of them on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois. The purpose of most of these was to ensure greater transparency in implementing the act, and particularly to protect the highly confidential information the data bank will contain.
As my New Democratic colleague mentioned earlier, this entire bill will be decided by the balance between the rights of individuals and the need to protect society. The whole debate can be summarized by this dichotomy of individual rights versus protection of society. Most of the discussions we have had in this House or in committee centred on this issue.
Let us imagine for an instant the scope of information contained in the genetic index. DNA profiles infallibly identify an individual from a hair, saliva or blood. However, they identify not only the individual, but the individual's family as well. A brother, a sister, a son, a daughter, a father or a mother may also be identified, to a lesser degree but be identified nonetheless, from the individual's DNA.
So, the discussion of the rights of individuals includes the individual in question and his or her immediate family.
Inappropriate use of information taken from the DNA could ruin or destroy an individual and his or her family, hence the extreme caution that we as parliamentarians and legislators must exercise in debating and passing this bill.
I proposed an amendment to limit the use made of genetic information gathered. The Liberal government autocratically refused to support the motion, unfortunately, probably because it came from a member of the opposition and a member of the Bloc moreover. I think that is a shame.
In the same vein, I proposed amendments to force the government to report on the application of the law. Once again, unfortunately, the government, for whom running the nation is a secret business, showed its contempt and refused to support us.
It refused, for instance, to allow the privacy commissioner to report every three years on the use to which the data in the bank were put. What are they afraid of? We were asking that a agency independent of government be allowed to examine the use to which these data were put, so that this bill would respect the private lives of individuals, of Canadians and Quebeckers.
Once again, I ask “What is the government afraid of? The privacy commissioner?” I find this most unfortunate.
I could go on for hours—and I know members would like me to, but I must disappoint them—about particular situations that we have tried to correct, but that the government refuses to tackle.
Knowing as we do the ideological narrowness of the Liberal Party and the tight leash on which the Prime Minister keeps his members, I was prepared to drop several, if not all, of the amendments I was sponsoring out of concern for integrity and public interest and in order to remove from the political arena a debate that is essentially apolitical in nature.
A bill such as Bill C-3, which we know is important, should not be used to engage in petty politics. I have always been open-minded and as non-partisan as possible, as apolitical as possible, but I must point out that this has not been the attitude of the Liberal government. I must, however, point out the open-mindedness of my colleague from the New Democratic Party and my colleague from the Conservative Party, with whom there were some good and frank discussions, despite our differing points of view.
As I said, I must admit I am disappointed with the government's general attitude in the way it handled this matter. The proposals of my opposition colleagues and myself met with constant refusals to even consider them. I am convinced that those who speak after me will refer to this as well.
I feel obliged to point out that the Solicitor General, the sponsor of this bill, appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on another matter, while we in this august Chamber were debating it. This was evidence of his disdain—the word may be a bit too strong—the lack of importance, at the very least, that he attaches to a chamber of representatives duly elected by the people. Once again, I must repeat how disappointed I am.
I am greatly disappointed because he was not there when the bill was being debated to hear what we had to say and let us hear what he had to say. While he was presenting another more or less important initiative in committee, we of the opposition parties could not be there. We had to choose, because no one can be in two places at the same time. We opted for the debate in this House, while unfortunately the Solicitor General did not, and I feel he too ought to have been here.
Of the 14 motions debated in the House, it is important to mention that only three were supported by a majority of members, and therefore received government approval. Not surprisingly, the amendments recommended in Motions Nos. 9 and 14, in Group No. 5, were passed, having been moved by the bill's sponsor himself, the solicitor general. The solicitor general introduced certain amendments and, wonder of wonders, his Liberal sheep followed.
I was very surprised, however, that Motion No. 13, which I myself moved, was agreed to. Admittedly, it would have been ill-advised for the government to refuse to remove data with respect to individuals who are acquitted. The opposition, the Bloc Quebecois anyway, was prepared for another no from the government. Statistically speaking, I presume that it is the exception that makes the rule.
We think the government could have done better and left aside the shocking partisan politics it has engaged in throughout study of this bill. That having been said, the Bloc Quebecois is open-minded, and we will support Bill C-3, even though we have certain reservations about its application.
In conclusion, we sincerely hope that the creation of this data bank gives police forces throughout the country all the tools they need to solve the unfortunately very large number of crimes being committed in our communities.
We still have certain concerns about the biased and inappropriate use of DNA samples and unnecessary analyses that will not be explicitly prohibited under the present legislation.
The Bloc Quebecois thinks it deserves credit for its constructive interventions and fervently hopes that the government will adopt a more conciliatory attitude when the bill, in this or another form, is again studied in the House, and also when other bills are introduced before the people's elected representatives. The legitimacy of parliament, the legitimacy of this House, and democracy itself hang in the balance.
