Environment committee  Certainly each case is different. I'll ask Mrs. Eacott to comment, as a prosecutor on the front line.

Environment committee  I find it hard to answer your question because the Civil Code does not really apply in criminal law.

Environment committee  Bill C-16 is a criminal law.

Environment committee  It is up to a defendant to determine what arguments they want to raise before a court. It's difficult to estimate the number of people, or other types of individuals, who may wish to raise this, but I can tell you that on its plain meaning it appears to be a clause intended to be

Environment committee  If and when the clause is raised by an individual, it would be fair to say that it would be the crown's position that it should be available only in exceptional circumstances. If courts see it differently, then that would be an argument to be advanced by the crown before appeal c

Environment committee  You're correct in saying that I wasn't specific. I alluded to constitutional challenges in a general sense. When one sees mandatory minimum penalties, as a prosecutor, one inevitably turns one's mind to possible constitutional challenges.

Environment committee  That's correct. I think it's more vulnerable.

Environment committee  I think so.

Environment committee  The criminal law in Canada is contained in a range of federal statutes. I believe that, in the absence of a provision, within an act, that prevents someone from being released from minimum penalties by reason of undue hardship, the application would be made under the Charter. The

Environment committee  I'll speak generally in terms of all our prosecutions, because we prosecute all federal offences. I'll ask Erin to comment specifically on environmental prosecutions. Chapter 15 of our deskbook is titled “The Decision to Prosecute”. It sets out two criteria, first as to whether

Environment committee  This is something that has evolved over time through agreements with enforcement agencies and through best practices. In some jurisdictions there is a formal arrangement, in the ones that I've mentioned, whereby there is pre-charge screening. Certainly in the province of Quebec i

Environment committee  I think that maximizing cooperation between prosecution services and investigative agencies at both the federal and provincial levels certainly should be encouraged, and it ensures, when cases come to court, not only that the evidence that has been marshalled is often better in t

Environment committee  The test that the PPSC applies when it decides whether or not to go forward with a prosecution has been the same test for quite some time, so in fact it's not new. The test is applied in the majority of provinces, after charges are laid, to ensure that the continuation of a prose

Environment committee  And New Brunswick, B.C., and Alberta.

Environment committee  Let me add that at the end of the day, in the pre-charge and the post-charge provinces the result will be the same, because the same brief will come to the crown in the post-charge provinces and the same evaluation will be made.