Justice committee  Thank you for that. I realize that I have very limited time to address that question. There's one thing I want to note, which I don't think was mentioned earlier. During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, there was a great, concerted effort between the Crown and the defenc

Justice committee  Fortunately, the Criminal Code already has specific provisions for offences that involve firearms. That is actually codified in the bail provisions. I know that one of the proposals—I think, at large, this may have been alluded to in the premiers' letter more generally—is whethe

Justice committee  Yes. I'll speak as a defence lawyer having had experience in bail hearings. Certainly in Ontario the practice is that a Crown in a bail hearing will invariably supply the court with a list of the accused's criminal record, a list of any outstanding charges. We even have Crowns w

Justice committee  That, of course, would all be known to the Crown as well, and certainly that often figures prominently in Crown submissions. Administration of justice offences will show up on a criminal record. Of course, I don't think I need to remind this committee of the discussion that's ma

Justice committee  The Canadian Bar Association, as far as I'm aware, does not collect statistics. We have in our submission made reference to statistics from Statistics Canada, which are accessible online. We included those specifically to provide some clarity regarding whether or not there has be

Justice committee  Yes. Bill C-75 implemented a number of changes, not only to the bail regime but to many other aspects of the criminal justice section. We made extensive submissions on this. We supported many of the amendments on the bail regime. We felt that they would lead to more expedient hea

Justice committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on this important issue. The Canadian Bar Association represents approximately 37,000 lawyers, students, academics and jurists across Canada. Our mandate includes seeking improvement in the law and the admi