Justice committee  First off, you raised a couple of questions there. First, in dealing with the definition of victim, my biggest concern is actually for victims. The fact is that I want the definition to be consistent, at least in a particular province. We're dealing with rank-and-file everyday

Justice committee  As I've indicated before, legal aid is a federal-provincial jurisdiction. The federal government funds roughly $10 million of legal aid. We tried to reach an agreement at the last federal-provincial-territorial meeting. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do so. We fund over 80% of

Justice committee  Realistically, we are responsible for the administration of justice. The federal government is responsible for the Criminal Code, as I'm sure you're well aware. I think the principle here, though, is that the victim has to be put first, ahead of the rights of the offender. That i

Justice committee  Thank you very much for your comment. Unfortunately no, I do not. You are correct that we did just have a federal, provincial, and territorial justice minsters meeting in Banff where we discussed many of these issues, including this particular item. I'm sorry, I can only speak

Justice committee  Thank you very much, Chair. There is one thing I just want to clarify. In no way were we suggesting that one province should be treated differently from the other; rather, that there should be a six-month, and not 90-day, period in which to implement everything in this bill.

Justice committee  We would like to see at least six months. Again, we support where this bill is, but we want to make it even better and also ensure that the victim services agencies are able to keep up and are able to comply with the bill. Again, this is all within the best interests of victims.

Justice committee  Well, there are a couple of issues there. The first item you talked about is looking ahead towards where legislation is going. Realistically, we respect that it is in the purview of the federal commons to amend legislation on a regular basis. So we don't know exactly what's comin

Justice committee  I'm sorry, I thought I was running out of time.

Justice committee  That's okay. In particular, the technical issues and requirements posed to circuit courts would need to be considered, as those technical options may not be available in all communities. This bill also makes a number of amendments to the Criminal Code provisions that deal with

Justice committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's nice to see you again, albeit through a different means than last time. Our priorities in Alberta include promoting safe and secure communities, ensuring adequate access to justice, and, of course, supporting victims first. The rights of vic