Justice committee  I can just provide a few comments, noting that there is a jurisdictional issue: we're at arm's length from courts. We do, however, monitor what they're doing and are aware that there have been impacts from COVID. In fact, that information, I understand, is publicly available on

Justice committee  I can hear you perfectly.

Justice committee  Mr. Fortin, if you don't mind, I would like to answer in English.

Justice committee  That would be easier for me. Thank you for your question. If I'm understanding correctly, you want to know the difference between incident-based offences like assault or other offences that involve violence, criminal harassment and then this new proposed offence of coercive co

Justice committee  My colleague, Stéphanie Bouchard, already gave our comments and tried to make some of those distinctions. You know, of course, that traditional criminal law focuses in on incidents, so it's an incident-based approach. That said, there have been some exceptions to that rule in t

Justice committee  Thank you. No, we don't tend to update charter statements. My understanding is that it still applies to what you're looking at today. All of the charter considerations are outlined there; they all remain the same considerations. Thank you.

Justice committee  I'm sorry. I'm not sure about the reference to “ordinary use”. I think that I have, though, acknowledged that gender expression is a broad term. It does have meaning in law. I believe I said that. It's used in other areas of law. I also referenced established rules of statutory i

Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. You referenced my stressing the statutory interpretation principle of narrow construction of criminal legislation, but it goes beyond that. It also has to be a purposive and contextual interpretation, and that means that courts will have to look at the ov

Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Neither term is defined, but, as I've stated before, they are used in other contexts. In fact, Mr. Fortin has given quite an excellent definition of gender expression today. The terms are used in many different contexts. We understand what they mean based

Justice committee  Madam Chair, I assume that's over to me.

Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just note that the charter issues or considerations that are raised by the bill are outlined in the charter statement that is available on the department's website. We do know, based on what the minister has said and even on what some witnesses

Justice committee  Madam Chair, may I reply?

Justice committee  Thank you. I would like to say at the outset that Monsieur Fortin and I are in agreement on the expansiveness of the term “gender expression”. I don't disagree with anything he said about its meaning. In terms of the term “practice”, I do acknowledge that it's broader than the

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. You'll know that the terms are not defined in the Criminal Code. They are defined in various places for different purposes and their meaning is understood. Admittedly, “gender expression” is a very broad term. It's about how one expresses one's own ge

Justice committee  I'm going to answer in English, if it's okay with you. I apologize, but it will be easier for me. It's an excellent question. I think, though, we'll have to remember that there are two parts to the definition, and that the intervention really has to amount to “a practice, treatm