Sean Fraser

[Canada Labour Code, January 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my question for the hon. member for Edmonton Centre builds on a theme he raised about the consequences of reduced productivity and absenteeism. Obviously, creating a regime for survivors of violence and victims of harassment is essential and the right thing to do. However, one of the trends I fear is that we are losing good people altogether.

In my own office, I am very fortunate to have incredibly talented women working for me without whom I could not do this job. I want to ask the member how the regime contemplated in Bill C-65 would help create a culture change that would ensure that the talented young women who are experiencing harassment today have faith in the system and will want to stay in these jobs and will want to contribute to the good work of government and the public service and federally regulated workplaces.

[Criminal Code, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, taken to its logical extreme, the hon. member would have us address legislation one section at a time, which is not reasonable. If I actually look at the things I am staring at that are included in this bill, there is challenging a person to a duel, fraudulently pretending to practise witchcraft, and pretending to be someone else during a university exam, when in fact that is captured by other provisions. I see a common thread. I do not see a problem with the use of an omnibus bill with a thread like this.

[Criminal Code, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, there are many great things about democracy in Canada, but one of our flaws I find is partisanship.

Good ideas and good people come from different parties all the time. Our process sometimes helps those good ideas come to the fore, no matter which party they come from. I note that on this issue, the member for St. Albert—Edmonton and the member for Niagara Falls made great contributions to the specific debate on section 176, which, in my opinion, would enhance the protection of religious freedom in Canada. I also note that I was having conversations about this very provision as one of my colleagues, a member of the Standing Committee on Justice, the member for West Nova, raised some of the concerns he had about this. There was some feedback I heard in my own office as well.

In my mind, this is a perfect example of how a non-partisan committee is supposed to challenge the initial draft of legislation put forward by the government. It listens to the evidence it hears and make amendments to improve laws for all Canadians. At the end of the day, a piece of legislation that makes it through this chamber and the other chamber is Canadian law, not the law of one government or another.

[Criminal Code, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to much of the debate around omnibus bills. One of the things I would like to clarify is that “omnibus”, in and of itself, should not be a swear word in this House. There are many times that a certain piece of legislation will seek to amend different laws that are somewhat related. In this case, the vast majority of the legislation before us seeks to update our laws to reflect either a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada or provisions that are obsolete in the social context in which we live.

Although a certain piece of legislation might change different laws, when there is a common theme that renders them not completely unique, I do not think it is inappropriate.

There is improper use of omnibus bills, and the weight of the irony is crushing me as I stand here taking the question from a member of the opposition on this subject.

I have heard speeches in this House within the last hour that have discussed how the committee process worked the way it should. Members were able to identify problems and propose useful amendments. However, I cannot let this question go by without pointing to Bill C-38 and Bill C-45 in the Parliament of 2012, where I saw a budget erode the Fisheries Act protections and the navigable waters protection act that were so important to my community.

[Criminal Code, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Niagara Centre.

Bill C-51 deals with certain revisions to our Criminal Code that would impact our charter. These are two extraordinarily important laws in our country that have a direct impact on the lives of Canadians. Like anything worth keeping, they require maintenance over time, so to speak. Bill C-51 would perform some of that much-needed maintenance.

The bill attempts to do three main categories of things. First and most important, in my opinion, it would provide much-needed clarity on the concept of consent when it comes to the criminal law with respect to sexual assault. It would also address certain zombie laws, as I have heard them referred to previously, that have been deemed unconstitutional by our nation's highest court or have become obsolete because of the social context in which we find our country today. Finally, it would require the justice minister to introduce a charter statement to declare compliance with our charter of any government bills introduced through that portfolio.

I will first go to the crux of the matter, in my opinion. Bill C-51 would provide desperately needed clarity on the criminal law on sexual assault. Before I deal with the specifics, I would like to share with the House that this is a social problem that is endemic in Canadian society. It impacts every community. I have had the good fortune of sitting on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women and have heard directly from witnesses who have been impacted by and survived sexual assault what it has done to them personally. To the extent we in the House can help stamp it out, that is the very least we owe Canadians.

There are a number of measures the government has taken outside of the bill to help fight gender-based violence once and for all, including over $100 million introduced for a gender-based violence strategy. What the committee heard during its study on ending gender-based violence against young women and girls is that it is not simply about supporting victims. It is also about legislative reform, particularly in the criminal context.

We have a criminal law system that discriminates against complainants at every turn. We are so ill-equipped to deal with these kinds of cases that a vast majority of complainants choose not to report incidents of sexual assault at all, and those who do muster the courage do so knowing that the rate of conviction, the rate at which justice is granted, is small. It is hard to imagine why they would put themselves in the position of being questioned and re-victimized in the first place.

We have an opportunity to better our system, encourage more people to come forward, and ensure that justice is indeed granted in circumstances where that is possible. One way this may be achieved is through proposed section 273.1. It confirms the Regina v. J.A. decision, which explains quite simply that consent is required on an ongoing basis. Essentially, someone who is unconscious is not able to provide consent. The simplest message to anyone who might be listening at home is that if someone is having sexual relations with a person who is too drunk to consent or who is unconscious, that is not sex. That is rape, and we need to acknowledge it for what it is.

Proposed section 273.2 of this legislation would provide additional protections, reflecting the Supreme Court decision in Regina v. Ewanchuk in 1999, by making it absolutely clear in our criminal law that mistaken belief of the law cannot constitute consent. It is not okay to assume that a person has consented because someone else gave consent for the person. There needs to be a positive affirmation. One cannot assume that because a person consented in advance, the consent is ongoing. One cannot assume that a failure to resist a sexual advance constitutes consent. If those are the only lines of defence in a sexual assault case, a person should be found guilty under our law.

Importantly, Bill C-51 also deals with our well-established rape shield provisions. The twin myths I have heard discussed by different members in the House today explain that we cannot rely on the sexual history of a complainant to make findings as to his or her credibility or whether he or she has given consent in a given instance. Bill C-51 would expand this protection to ensure that communications sent with sexual content or for a sexual purpose were not used to perpetuate those same myths.

This is an added layer of protection that reflects the world we live in. In the 21st century, if consenting adults wish to send each other communications of a sexual nature or for a sexual purpose, that is their decision. However, the fact that someone has demonstrated that he or she was interested in sexual activity before cannot be used by a court to make a finding that he or she has given consent.

If I transposed this logic to any other social circumstance, I feel that just about everyone would get it. Without being flippant about an extraordinarily serious issue, after work I may join a colleague for a beer or have a glass of wine or two over dinner. However, if I am asked to go out for a drink on a given night and I say no, my friends understand that. I do not know why the same logic cannot be applied to sexual assault. Particularly for young men, again, if they are listening, just because a person has demonstrated a willingness to engage in sexual relations in the past, they should not assume that it is consent forever thereafter.

Some of the other themes touched on that I would like to address while I have the floor include these zombie laws. These laws create uncertainty and unnecessary expense in litigation and should be removed from the books. They largely reflect decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. Cases of defamatory libel and cases involving evidentiary burdens and the reverse onus that have been dealt with by the Supreme Court will be reflected in law. I think, although I do not want to speak for everyone, that those provisions are unanimously supported by members of this House.

There are other matters that are completely obsolete in this day and age. I notice the provisions on challenging a person to a duel, which has a very interesting backstory in Nova Scotia involving our third premier, Joseph Howe, if anyone wants to take the time to read it. There is the crime of publishing crime comics. There is fraudulently pretending to practise witchcraft. I think we will leave the discussion on people who are actually practising witchcraft for another day. I think members get the point. There are many laws that exist in our Criminal Code that really should be removed from the books.

The government has a responsibility to ensure that its laws comply with the charter. That brings me to the last theme addressed by Bill C-51. That is the obligation of the Minister of Justice to introduce a compliance statement, a charter statement, with new pieces of government legislation that impact that portfolio. This is a very positive exercise, in my opinion, and it is one that will enhance openness and transparency. It will allow Canadians to see that the government is stating, for the record, why it believes its laws are in compliance with the charter.

We sometimes fall into the trap, in different governments, in different parts of our nation's history, of putting forward laws that may seem popular to a voter base but may be contrary to the rights that are included, constitutionally, in Canadian law. This practice of introducing a statement on compliance with the charter is going to ensure that our government is subject to Canadian laws and that people are protected by it, not the other way around.

This proposed legislation has my full support, whether it is for making clear the provisions on consent in cases of sexual assault, whether it is removing from our charter specific provisions that should not be there, either because they are unconstitutional or obsolete, or whether it is the introduction of a charter statement. These are positive developments that are going to help make our criminal system more efficient and will help protect the charter rights of Canadians.

[Criminal Code, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, just before I pose my question, a comment was made earlier about my hon. colleague waving his arms on occasion. When he spends as much time in the chamber as this member does, there is very little time for exercise. I know where he comes from.

I do want to ask something on a more serious note. This bill includes important measures dealing with the importance of consent in terms of criminal law around sexual assault. I want to recognize some of the points made from different members from different parties on the issue of the circumstances across different sectors of society and the battle that we need to fight to ensure the victims have the support that they need.

In addition to those systemic supports, this particular bill proposes certain revisions that clarify the importance of consent in sexual assault cases. They ensure that, for example, communications are now subject to the rape shield laws that have long protected the use of a person's sexual history to impugn their credibility, for example, or imply consent in a certain circumstance.

Does the hon. member think that this particular bill is going to enhance the number of women who actually are able to come forward and restore their faith in the justice system to report a crime of sexual assault when it takes place in our communities?

[Criminal Code, December 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed the very legalistic approach taken in my hon. colleague's remarks. I come from a similar professional background and a similar vintage as the hon. member.

However, one of the things I have been privileged to do since I arrived in this place is to serve on the status of women committee. When we did the study on ending violence against women, particularly against young women and girls, some of the testimony that we heard was about the dramatic under-reporting of sexual assault in Canada, and how ill-equipped our legal system is to deal with those who do muster the courage to come forward.

I view this bill as a positive step that will both encourage more young women who have been victimized by and survived sexual violence to report it and potentially result in more convictions when sexual assault is reported. Does my hon. colleague agree or disagree that it will lead to more convictions in circumstances where sexual assault has been committed?

[Carlton Munroe, December 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, Pictou County lost its local music guru and Tragically Hip super fan Carlton Munroe after his battle with glioblastoma, the same illness that claimed the life of his music hero Gord Downie.

Carlton was a dedicated family man, a bright light on the east coast music scene, and a personal friend. From his time on our local radio station, he was unwavering in his commitment to our community and helping musicians in his work with the events department of the Town of New Glasgow and in his efforts to build our biggest music festival at home, the Riverfront Jubilee. While his presence on stage this year at the jubilee will certainly be missed, we know he will be with us in spirit.

I thank Taryn for sharing her husband with us, and Noah, Nate, and Layla for sharing their father with us.

The Prime Minister said recently that Canada is less of a country without Gord. I can say that Pictou County is a bit less of a community without Carlton.

I would like to say this to Carlton, “We're going to miss you, buddy. Say hi to Gord.”

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, I would like to remind the member opposite that it would have been Stephen Harper, had he not run a campaign based on fear and division, that would have ended up paying $40 million to lose a lawsuit.

[Business of Supply, December 4th, 2017]

Madam Speaker, on the first point my hon colleague, the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell made, I can point out that this failed campaign tactic has been pulled straight from the playbook of Stephen Harper. The new opposition leader has branded himself after his win as Stephen Harper 2.0, and the same politics of fear and division that brought down the Harper government I trust will do the same thing to his party in 2019.

To answer the question, it is important that Canadians do not feel compelled to live in fear. We can ensure that agencies are well funded and have the resources they need to protect us, and then go on and live our lives the way we want to in our communities. Absolutely, I would stand up for the rights of our security agencies to be well funded and well resourced so they can do the job they are so talented at doing, which is keeping Canadians safe.