Public Safety committee  Are you speaking to all the amendments or just the 39 times?

Public Safety committee  I think I would just agree with the chair. We can't really comment on whether it was a mistake or not. What we can say is that it was introduced as part of this package before us. That's all we can say as officials.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I will undertake to do that.

Public Safety committee  It is recognizances, but they're colloquially called peace bonds. There are different types of peace bonds in the Criminal Code. This one targets serious personal injury offences, or SPIOs as we used to call them. My understanding is that they are not ordered fairly often in the criminal justice system, but I don't have that data.

Public Safety committee  It's an additional tool for a judge to be able to add firearm parts to the list of items a person cannot possess for a certain period of time if they are subject to one of these orders.

Public Safety committee  No, there is no substantive change. It just adds “firearm part” to the list of items that a judge.... When a judge issues one of these recognizances, the person must abstain from possessing it. Similar to the last two or three amendments, it would just add it to the list of items they can't possess.

Public Safety committee  I'm unsure how many people are caught by these recognizances, and I think it depends on the jurisdiction where they are issued. We don't collect data across Canada, because they are issued in various courts across Canada, so the Department of Justice wouldn't have that information.

Public Safety committee  I think that's an unrelated question. With respect to this amendment, you had....

Public Safety committee  Correct. It's a different scope. One is some offences and others are preventative orders. Others are procedural elements to bail, etc., so they are different, but they are all consequential to the original motion.

Public Safety committee  I can start. Then my colleague can get into any of the details. This again is another peace bond provision. There are different ones for different situations. This is dealing specifically with peace bonds relating to forced and underage marriage. If a judge is satisfied that the applicant has reasonable grounds to fear that a person will commit this offence, a judge can order a peace bond or order the person to enter into a recognizance.

Public Safety committee  For the Criminal Code it's impacting various parts. Some are adding to offences. Others are adding to procedural elements in the code, and preventative orders, so offences, some procedures and some preventative orders.

Public Safety committee  They are all consequential amendments to the original motion so they are all technical and coordinating amendments to those provisions.

Public Safety committee  Correct.

Public Safety committee  It impacts different provisions of the Criminal Code, yes. Those provisions, again, are varied, but they are all consequential.

Public Safety committee  That question, if I understand it, is around using this particular provision in each court. We would not have that information, because it would vary between the courts from province to province. We would not have that information, unless my colleague can correct me.