Status of Women committee  We'll provide an overview and then dive into more specific issues that you are looking at, which is federally sentenced women of indigenous background. I'm accompanied by Marie-France Kingsley. Ms. Kingsley is the acting executive director of my office. She has a lot of experience with investigations, and she has been managing the portfolio regarding women and regarding mental health for years now.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, I think Japan has been seen already as a very important player regionally and also within Cambodia. One thing that hasn't been said, but it's an important dynamic, is the increasing assertiveness of China in Southeast Asia at the moment, particularly in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think has been a tremendous challenge for everybody who's engaged with these justice institutions within Cambodia, where the entry points are. I think it is correct to say that it is as simple as you've said. You see it in other places where loyalty is to the party first and to the institution second.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a very important question, because a tremendous amount of investment has been made into the judicial system and the development of the judiciary and the prosecution office over the last several decades, certainly since the early nineties. On one level, while there are still significant problems with the judiciary, it's certainly a judiciary with a much higher capacity than it had 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We are fortunate to have before us three witnesses. By video conference from Yangon, Myanmar, we have Kingsley Abbott, Senior International Legal Adviser in the Asia and Pacific Office of the International Commission of Jurists. I do want to recognize and thank you, Mr. Abbott, for making yourself available.

Canada Elections Act  Dawson, the then Ethics Commissioner, indicated that the bill should be amended to include parliamentary secretaries, which the bill does not. Canada's former Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, was surprised to see a penalty as low as $1,000. He encouraged the fines to be increased to $5,000, which the bill does not. Mr. Kingsley also made recommendations to capture key political staff in ministers' offices and the PMO, which the bill does not.

Canada Elections Act  Section 500 of the act would be amended to create a penalty of not more than $1,000. The evidence from Jean-Pierre Kingsley, our former chief electoral officer, was: The $1,000 penalty for a summary conviction, I found to be low. The entities that would be charged are entities...that effectively have money or should pay more for that.

Canada Elections Act  The activities of those on either side of the House do not break any laws. It is important to make this clear. I would like to quote Jean-Pierre Kingsley, the former chief electoral officer of Canada, who testified before the committee on October 5, 2017. He said: I will admit that the limit of $1,550 right now is a very reasonable one and should not lead one to suspect that an individual is trying to do something wrong by contributing that.

Canada Elections Act  I was hoping to see the changes promised by the Liberal Party on electoral reform and the voting system, especially since the experts and the Canadians polled were in favour of a proportional voting system. I have already spoken about this. I understand Mr. Kingsley's reticence. However, as progressive New Democrats we are concerned about the rich having privileged access to decision-makers and ministers. Would lowering the political contribution limit not have been the best change to make?

Status of Women committee  I'm more at ease responding on how our office responds to individual complaints. There is no difference in the process. In other words, a federal offender can contact our office through a variety of means. Most often it's by phone, via our toll-free line. One thing that does come up, though, is that in women's institutions we assign only women investigators.

Status of Women committee  Depending on the nature of the complaint, of course, it could very well happen, and it does happen, that our senior investigators would involve and consult with the elder, or the aboriginal liaison officer, to find out exactly what happened or did not happen. Of course, we will speak fully to all of the relevant players and all of the facts will be examined with due process, and all of that—absolutely.

Status of Women committee  We do have issues around and religious or spiritual matters, for example, medicine bundles, and things like that. Let me ask Marie-France Kingsley—

Status of Women committee  I don't have much to add. There will be some differences, as Ivan mentioned, for indigenous women. For example, given that they're overrepresented in maximum security, you'll have more complaints related to conditions of confinement. Certainly, there's the issue of access to mental health services, because indigenous women are overrepresented in terms of the incidence of self-mutilation.

Status of Women committee  Today it's wonderful to have the Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada here today, with Ivan Zinger and Marie-France Kingsley. Thank you very much for joining us. They're going to start by presenting a 10-minute deck to us. It will be a little over the time, but there's a lot of excellent information in it.

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Mr. Zinger. You have before you the overview of the presentation, but I won't go through all of that. Instead, I will briefly present the office's mandate. You have before you our mission statement. Essentially, our office acts as the ombudsman for federally sentenced offenders.