Justice committee  Drawing on a few things, the test is well established, including within the various testimonial aid provisions within the Criminal Code. This is very well established, as Madame Boivin pointed out. Proposed subsection 486.31(3) articulates the different criteria that a court will

Justice committee  I would agree that that is an issue, and it is an issue that is currently being litigated before some of the courts. Bill C-32 is not addressing that other broader consideration, but it is looking to make the evidence of any spouse available.

Justice committee  That would be a question for the minister.

Justice committee  Because the decision-maker would be the court, it wouldn't be possible to know with certainty in advance, but what would happen is that the victim or the complainant would make the request through the crown, and the court would be able to make the determination.

Justice committee  Currently we have a mix of statutory provisions that protect against compellability for spouses and also some common-law rules. These are in the Canada Evidence Act. The bill is seeking to abolish that rule so that all spouses would be competent to testify against their spouse, a

Justice committee  I'll try to take the questions in order. On the way that Bill C-32 is proposing amendments to permit some witnesses to testify through a pseudonym, right now that ability exists, but it's not codified. It's not in the Criminal Code. Some courts have made the decision, depending

Justice committee  As the minister said in his remarks, victims do not currently have standing in a criminal process. To provide victims with standing would be to essentially introduce a whole new party to the process. Right now the criminal process consists of the state and the offender, and the c

Justice committee  In terms of the reference to Bill C-13, the explanation that has been provided to the committee is that the bill would enable law enforcement to ask for material that can be disclosed voluntarily now, that's not prohibited, for example, by PIPEDA.

Justice committee  There are no costs associated with that. But as the deputy has suggested, we can verify.