Public Safety committee  Yes. In fact, the comment I would make is that it probably doesn't even go as far as what the police have at their disposal locally. I think this is very much a step in the right direction in terms of protecting human sources—for sure.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, members of the committee. I appreciate having the opportunity to speak with you all today, in person for a nice change, regarding your ongoing study of Bill C-44. I'm appearing today on behalf of the Canadian Police Association, an organiza

Public Safety committee  They're very much in accordance with my own observations and the experience of my members. I referred earlier to the incredible amount of discretion that police officers working in the downtown eastside use every day when it comes to enforcement in the downtown eastside. It is ve

Public Safety committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to address you this afternoon as part of your continued study on Bill C-2. As you mentioned, and as most of you know from my previous appearances before this committee, I have the privilege of c

Justice committee  I agree. Canadian parents expect the police—to use Mr. McConaghy's term—to rescue their children when they're being recruited, when they're being exploited by often older impressive people who want to take advantage of them. That's the expectation. I also want to echo some of t

Justice committee  Right, but when we're talking about the most marginalized or vulnerable women, we were using those provisions before to intervene, to intercede, and to try to make a difference. The issue is what do we do now, since Bedford. I think that Bill C-36 provides us now with some of tho

Justice committee  Well, it would be the provisions around 213 where the communication gives us an opportunity to intervene; the provisions around someone engaging in sex trade activities in front of a school, in a park, where it's causing other issues; the provisions around preventing youth from b

Justice committee  At the very basic level, from my perspective, what Bill C-36 provides to police is the ability to respond where there's a community concern, where we identify a concern in a particular part of our community that we're serving, or where we see women being exploited. It provides us

Justice committee  For policing, it's really at the front line— Sorry?

Justice committee  I think we could have done that before. The issue, though, is that with the Bedford decision, the provisions that were most commonly relied upon by front-line police officers were struck down, so—

Justice committee  What would you propose as an alternative, I wonder? Because these are women who are being.... These are the most vulnerable women—

Justice committee  —and they're usually drug-addicted, and I'm not sure how else we could ever get them to a place where we can have a discussion with them to see how they're being exploited or how they can be helped.

Justice committee  I agree with your earlier comments from a policing perspective, a front-line policing perspective. It is a tool. It gives us an opportunity to engage with someone who might be in a vulnerable situation, being exploited by a pimp or someone else. So I think it's a useful tool for

Justice committee  Well, I guess what I'm saying is that we need legislative tools or mechanisms where we can intervene, where in the typical circumstance when you're on the street dealing with a sex trade worker who's in a vulnerable situation, if we don't have some ability to give that person an

Justice committee  Yes, what you've described is very accurate. I can tell you as I meet with my colleagues across the country, that's certainly how they describe the experience in the various jurisdictions across the country. I know in Vancouver specifically, my home service, we have a vice unit,