Justice committee  Madam Chair, with your permission, I could take a stab at that very briefly. There are structural difficulties in investigating offences involving seniors. These are vulnerable groups. They often aren't investigated by the police in the most effective manner with presenting the

Justice committee  Madam Chair, with your permission, I will comment in the very little time I have left. Certainly having a registry of firearms that allows firearms to be tracked, determining where people have access to firearms, has been helpful. Law enforcement has asked for that repeatedly a

Justice committee  Madam Chair, once again I'll try to keep my comments very brief. In the nomenclature we use in the criminal defence bar, the term “victim” is a very loaded term, and in terms of how we like to view things or how we like to term things, we prefer the term “complainant” to refer t

Justice committee  Certainly, having a centralized system for redress is the most efficient way. It would also contribute to the highest level of satisfaction. The unfortunate nature of the criminal justice system, as I know from having toiled in it for over 20 years now, is that a just result usu

Justice committee  As briefly as possible, Madam Chair, we find that complainants and victims of crime often receive more satisfaction when they are permitted to have alternate forms of sentencing, so not just incarceration, but redress and sentencing circles. We have been working with our justice

Justice committee  Madam Chair, generally speaking, my comments are less related to overall concepts and more to the functionality, but in terms of the question that has been asked, it's a really important one. At the end of the day, my personal view, which I'll insert here, is that everyone invo

Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just give some brief remarks. I think a pan-Canadian strategy.... The role of the federal government, as with all justice issues, is to sit down and develop best practices to ensure that comprehensive information is being provided to complainants th

Justice committee  I think more information is better. All participants in the justice system should receive comprehensive information about their rights and responsibilities, regardless of what offence they either face or are involved in as complainants. I don't know if we need to single out any

Justice committee  I might be able to respond to that. Certainly, any complainant in any criminal matter always has the right to retain counsel. There is no restriction on that. The question boils down to who is going to pay for that service. Though I am a criminal defence lawyer, I often provid

Justice committee  Good morning, Madam Chair and honourable members of the committee. My name is Jody Berkes, and I am chair of the Canadian Bar Association's criminal justice section. I join you today from the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confede

Justice committee  In terms—

Justice committee  I agree. I concur. There's a difference between evidence and charges. Having national standards would provide that metric, that evidence needed in a prosecution in order to secure a conviction. A breach of that standard is prima facie evidence.

Justice committee  I will try to confine it to 60 seconds. In terms of what is there right now, if someone is found guilty or convicted, they can be placed on probation for a period of up to three years with conditions. One of the conditions would be a prohibition on their working with the elderly

Justice committee  Certainly, Madam Chair. Thank you for the question. It's an important question, because once again, I think the committee is focused on writing legislation that will somehow magically make this problem disappear and prosecute people. Even new legislation is going to require evid

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. In terms of the suggestion that there isn't a specific offence called “elder abuse”, neither is there a specific offence called “domestic abuse”. It's captured under “domestic assault”. “Domestic assault” is a basket term, but the offence of simply as