Arif Virani

[Criminal Code, November 20th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I compliment the member for his work on the justice committee and also in his role as special advisor on LGBTQ2 issues.

We are nearing the one-year anniversary of the historic apology to the LGBTQ2 community by the Prime Minister on November 28 of last year. An important component of that apology was the expungement of records. Could the hon. member explain why the bawdy house and vagrancy amendments passed at committee helped inform and complete the work of that apology in terms of addressing LGBTQ2 discrimination?

[Criminal Code, November 20th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, as an individual who sat in on those committee meetings, I would ask the minister if she could elaborate on the extensive analysis that was done after that 27 hours of deliberation by the committee. Perhaps she could comment on the committee amendments that were accepted, specifically with respect to paralegals and with respect to routine police evidence, two issues that I know are near and dear to the mandate of this government and the mandate of the minister in terms of increasing access to justice.

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments by the member opposite and salute her contributions to Canada while serving in the foreign service in the past. While I am tempted to ask her a question about the disenfranchisement of all of the Canadians abroad under the previous government while she was serving those Canadians abroad in El Salvador, etc., I want to ask her about Bill C-75.

The member asked repeatedly about whether this is something we should be proud of and whether it is the kind of symbolic representation we want to make toward the world. I have a comment and a question.

We do want to be known as a government that takes discrimination against indigenous people seriously, and a government that listens to those very same foreign counterparts she served in her various roles in the foreign service, like England, which eliminated peremptory challenges in 1988. Those challenges are basically discriminatory, as they would allow a homogenous jury to render a verdict in the case of a white farmer accused of killing an indigenous man in Saskatchewan. I would put to her that ending peremptory challenges is something we want to be known for around the world.

Would she agree that it is also good to be known around the world for taking a substantive stand against intimate partner violence, something the member for Cariboo—Prince George questioned in a somewhat mocking manner in the chamber? Also, by expanding the definition to include dating partners and former spouses and ensuring that we have tougher penalties on intimate partner violence, is that the exact kind of stand she would like our government and this Parliament to take against violence against women?

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the member for Kitchener—Conestoga a question with respect to the constituents he represents who are members of the LGBTQ2 community. Those constituents are directly affected by this bill in two important regards. We have removed the vagrancy and bawdy house provisions, which brings the bill into conformity with constitutional decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. It would allow the expungement of records that existed for the violation of those Criminal Code provisions that were inherently discriminatory.

Second, and most importantly, a provision has been changed whereby section 159 of the Criminal Code has been removed. The impact of that would be to treat a consenting sexual relationship between a heterosexual couple aged 16 and 17 and a LGBT couple aged 16 or 17 exactly the same way. I wonder if the member would indicate his support for those types of changes because of the important impact they would have on the LGBTQ2 community in his own riding.

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I will start with a comment and end with a question.

Hybridization occurs regularly throughout the Criminal Code. It did under the previous government's watch, and it continues to occur today. Over 100 offences are already hybridized. Hybridization is about giving the Crown attorney a choice to proceed summarily or to proceed by way of an indictable offence. It does not predetermine the sentence, and the choice is critical, as highlighted in the instance of kidnapping. It can be extremely heinous, in the context of kidnapping someone who is then trafficked for prostitution, or it can be in a context that is usually much more benign, such as the case of a parent who shares custody with an estranged spouse who simply extends a stay with a grandparent and has the child for an extra day. Those require different responses by Crown attorneys.

The member spent a lot of time debating whether our government's position on crime is sufficient or tough enough, from her perspective. How does she explain the fact that under our government's watch, all summary conviction offences are moving from six months to two years less a day, a much more significant penalty for those types of offences?

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am quite troubled by some of the comments of the member opposite. I appreciate the fact that there is an effort to simplify vocabulary and make things understandable for people in the chamber and those watching on television. However, the reason the definition of “intimate partner violence” is entrenched in law is because domestic violence and violence between sexual partners is a very troubling and problematic matter about which all parliamentarians should be concerned. Today in this chamber, even members of his caucus, in response to questions I raised or on their own volition, have agreed that the changes to intimate partner violence form a critical part of the legislation with which most members can agree.

I will give the member one more opportunity to not make light of the situation. Does he believe that when a definition is expanded so things like “strangulation”, “choking” and “suffocation” are deemed an elevated form of assault that judges need to take note of when issuing orders and harsher sentences for such violence, whether it involves a current partner or a former partner, is a step in the right direction?

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Calgary Shepard for his contributions in the House.

With respect to judicial appointments, the Minister of Justice has appointed 235 judges thus far in each of the past few years. That is more judges than have been appointed by any minister of any political stripe in the last two decades, and it includes 34 judges in the member's province alone.

The member questions the ability to speed up the processes in compliance with the Jordan decision. I am going to put to him three statistics and I ask for his comments.

The first statistic is that an administration of justice offence is an offence such as breach of curfew. This type of offence has increased by 8% in the system since 2004. One in 10 incidents reported to the police involved an administration offence and four in 10 cases in adult criminal courts included at least one administration of justice offence.

Given those statistics would the member opposite agree with me that when we take those types of administration of justice charges, which are criminalized right now and are clogging up the system, and move them to a separate administrative judicial referral hearing, we are addressing the very backlog he has identified as a problem in this country for delivering justice more quickly?

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue for her speech.

She spoke about access to justice for many people in Canada who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.

I want to underscore and ask for the member's comment on the changes that were made at committee that addressed this very important issue.

Something that was raised with us was the issue of when we are changing summary conviction offences and moving them to two years less a day in terms of the penalty, what does that mean in terms of those people who are either unrepresented or are represented by law students, paralegals or agents?

At committee, there has been an important change, which has been supported, that would allow the provinces and territories to change to 802.1 of the Criminal Code. That allows the provinces and territories to permit agents to appear on summary conviction offences that are punishable by more than six months of imprisonment.

Is that the kind of change the member is encouraged to see, because it would address the very access to justice issues she raised in her speech?

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I listened carefully to the speech and comments by my colleague opposite. I would like to raise the point of LGBTQ rights, a point that neither he nor his Conservative colleagues addressed, but which was raised a number of times in committee.

There are two aspects of this bill I want to solicit the member's comments on. First, this bill would put aspects that relate to the LGBTQ2 community into compliance with the Constitution. It would remove vagrancy and the bawdy house provisions, which would allow the expungement of records that historically discriminated against the LGBTQ2 community. Second, the bill would remove section 159 of the Criminal Code, which makes sexual relations for consenting LGBTQ2 minors between the ages of 16 and 18 an offence, whereas the same sexual relations between a heterosexual couple are not an offence.

Does the member opposite appreciate these aspects in terms of this government and Parliament's support on the important issue of human rights of the LGBTQ2 community?

[Criminal Code, November 8th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I first want to compliment the member, not just on his comments here today but on his tremendous work at the justice committee in terms of bringing his expertise to bear in the study that was undertaken.

The member commented on the importance of looking at reforms, and he highlighted some of the committee testimony, specifically around bail. We know that indigenous and other marginalized groups are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and are disproportionately impacted by the bail process. We know that they are disproportionately impacted because they are sometimes detained in custody for reasons that are entirely unrelated to the offence they are alleged to have committed, such as not having enough money or not knowing individuals who are suitable to supervise them if they are released on bail.

We are changing bail through certain key amendments in this legislation to take into account the overrepresentation of indigenous and other marginalized groups. I am wondering if the member could comment on how those changes will alleviate the plight of those groups in particular.