House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 42% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, the member opposite knows, as a former member of the justice committee, that decisions about investigations and potential prosecution for criminality, whether it is here or abroad, are undertaken, as they need to be in a democracy, by entities such as the free-standing and independent department of public prosecution, the director of public prosecutions, or the war crimes unit. Those are not handled or directed by me—
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, with respect to the settlements, I can indicate that we deemed them to be illegal at law, as we have pronounced in statements that have been given by our government and by the governments of Australia and New Zealand.
We have also taken steps to issue sanctions against settlers from those regions who are taking extremist actions, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs—
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, I can reiterate that we have made quite public statements, both on our own and also with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, with respect to the settlements and their status at international law.
I can also reiterate that, pursuant to a motion proposed by the member opposite's party, and we voted on that motion, I believe, in March, we are taking the actions needed with respect to certain individuals from those settlements. This includes taking actions on sanctioning extremist settlers. We did exactly that last week by naming four extremist settlers for sanctions.
Those are the actions the Government of Canada has taken.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, I have given my response.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, what I would say to the member opposite is this: We have been quite vocal with respect to the nature of the settlements' being illegal, in terms of the statements we have been making over the last year with respect to the conflict in the region.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, my understanding is that we have made very public statements, as the Government of Canada, about the nature of the settlements in the occupied territories being deemed illegal.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, again, the lead on this issue is the Minister of Public Safety. I know he is working with provincial and territorial counterparts with pace in his effort to meet that deadline.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, I appreciate the intervention of the member opposite, and I share his passion for addressing issues, including things that have a disproportionate impact on different communities, including racialized communities. What I can say is that the issue he is raising has been touched upon by Bill C-5, which proposes amendments that would need to be made. The Minister of Public Safety is working diligently on this very issue and is working within the parameters of the deadline that he just mentioned, November 2024, to address the amendments that are needed to deal with simple possession and those records.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, I can double down on my personal commitment to legal aid, as a lawyer and as the Minister of Justice. Obviously, I cannot bind future parliaments with any pronouncement on the floor today.
Business of Supply May 23rd, 2024
Madam Chair, I can simply say that is actually an incorrect understanding of what is in the estimates. What is happening there is that we are seeing money that was a one-off allocation that is being eliminated.
However, as I mentioned in my 10-minute speech, what is in budget 2024 is a five-year horizon of criminal legal aid that expands the envelope to much greater than it previously was, with $440 million over five years being provided to criminal legal aid through budget 2024, and $270 million over five years for immigration and refugee legal aid. That is a sum total of $710 million being provided to legal aid in those two categories over the next five years, which is a dramatic increase.