Justice  Mr. Speaker, the question of political interference was raised a number of times by the director herself, yesterday. I just read her comments into the record. What I can say about the investigation and the legal process is that the government fulfilled all its obligations. All the documents from the individuals identified by the defence were submitted to the court.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, I respect the member's service to this country, as we all respect Vice-Admiral Norman's. However, what I can underscore and perhaps elaborate for her is how the legal process works. The legal process conducts itself in an independent manner. When requests for documents are made, we identify the documents.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, the member opposite is a lawyer and shares the same profession as me. Therefore, he should know that when we investigate a charge, that is done by law enforcement, and in this case the RCMP. He should know that when we lay a charge that it is sent by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, an entity that his party created while in power.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, in different contexts, I have a lot respect for the member opposite for the advocacy he does for the men and women in uniform in the country. However, it is important to underscore that there are men and women in uniform, namely the RCMP, who took charge of the very investigation that the member is impugning.

An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families  Mr. Speaker, jurisdiction, accountability and funding are extremely important points. We look forward to the work of the committee in bringing forward suggestions and proposing amendments to the bill. On jurisdiction specifically, when we say that in the event of a conflict between indigenous jurisdiction or authority and provincial or territorial authority that the indigenous authority will trump or be paramount, it establishes exactly the kind of jurisdiction that needs to be asserted here.

An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families  Mr. Speaker, I am quite disappointed that the member for New Westminster—Burnaby is seeking to make partisan gain out of something that should be supported unanimously in the House. However, I will address his comments, because funding is an important part. With legislation, we create a framework for transferring jurisdiction.

An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for his work as parliamentary secretary and for his leadership with the Métis community. The notion of inherent jurisdiction is fundamental. It is fundamental toward a renewed relationship with indigenous peoples, which informs everything we are attempting to do as a government.

An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families  Mr. Speaker, I do not have specific details about the departmental targets. However, one of our simple targets is to reduce the numbers I mentioned at the outset of my speech. As I said, indigenous children represent 7% of the population but 52% of those in care, and we are trying to bring down that 52% number.

An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families  Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak on a historic piece of legislation, Bill C-92, an act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. It is also an honour to welcome over 30 students from Mr. Dingwall's grade 12 politics class at Humberside Collegiate Institute in my riding.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of the process for appointing candidates to the Senate or to Canada's judiciary. With regard to judicial appointments, just look at our track record. Our record shows that we have used every available means to verify the candidates' merit and quality.

Ethics  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague opposite for her question. I want to point out the facts and the exact figures. These are the facts: first of all, we carried out consultations and vetted the candidates carefully; second, we appointed judicial candidates from any Canadian political party.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in this third reading debate on Bill S-240, a piece of legislation that has been described as the culmination of over 10 years of parliamentary work on the important issue of organ trafficking. It is worth recalling that four bills dealing with this issue were introduced in Parliament prior to Bill S-240, some of which were sponsored by the member for Etobicoke Centre and by the former minister of justice, Irwin Cotler.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Timmins—James Bay for his contribution today and on other days. I appreciate that he finds it fascinating that I or anyone would stand up to defend the independence of the judiciary. As someone with 15 years' experience at the bar, I will always stand up for the independence of the judiciary and defend it.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, now he is heckling me from across the way because he does not appreciate what I am saying, nor does he have the respect to listen to what I am saying. The second response is that he again infers that some sort of interference occurred. Clearly, he did not listen to the evidence I just put into the record.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, what I find fascinating is the continuing ability of the members opposite to distort actual evidence on the record. What was indicated in the testimony provided by the former attorney general was this. When she asked the Prime Minister a specific question, he indicated to her it was her decision and her decision alone.