Finance committee  My name is Suzanne Brisebois. I'm the director general of policy and operations at the Parole Board of Canada. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to speak to you today. I will keep my remarks brief, as we're discussing a single amendment. As y

Finance committee  I'll clarify. This release is specific to offenders who are already in the community on either parole or statutory release. So the review by the board has already been conducted in terms of, for instance, an offender being granted day or full parole. Those are decisions that th

Finance committee  The board is still looking at the same information that is presented from correctional authorities.

Finance committee  The amendments were reviewed by justice, so it's not necessarily our department, the parole board, that conducts the review. The justice department does review all the amendments to legislation. Again, I would like to emphasize that all the areas in terms of procedural safeguar

Finance committee  I don't necessarily have a legal opinion with me, but I can confirm with the legal counsel that works for the parole board to determine what was available or what was made in writing.

Finance committee  I can ask for that information, yes.

Finance committee  I would say that this situation could come up at a hearing, it could be a point of clarification by the offender. It can come up in advance of a hearing. The offender is provided information in advance of the hearing and can make representation to the board to say they'd like to

Finance committee  That's right, and that currently occurs. Right now the law requires a hearing for post-suspension, termination, or revocation decisions, but in approximately half the cases offenders will waive their right to a hearing, and it is conducted by administrative review in-office. So t

Finance committee  The difference would be that the offender wouldn't have an in-person hearing with board members.

Finance committee  I would think so. The risk assessment is basically for each of the specific cases, and board members assess each of the factors within those cases.

Finance committee  We haven't necessarily broken it down by the offender groups. Again, the risk is assessed by board members based on case-specific factors. Each case can be different. If you're talking about demographics...or is that what you're referring to?

Finance committee  This amendment falls under the deficit reduction action plan, so this—

Finance committee  No, we weren't.

Finance committee  Well, I don't set the legislative agenda—

Finance committee  —so I wouldn't necessarily be able to....