Federal-Provincial-Territorial Meeting of Ministers responsible for Justice

Bonjour mesdames et messieurs. Ladies and gentlemen.

We have just concluded a day and a half meeting on Justice issues in Canada many of which are top of the mind for Canadians. We began our deliberations yesterday discussing a range of issues arising from the current Parliamentary review of the Young Offenders Act, including treatment of serious offenders, minimum and maximum age, alternative responses to youth crime, due process and parental involvement.

Provinces and territories expressed concern about three issues:

The amount of federal funding, frozen since 1988-89, is not enough to cover ongoing costs and should not be curtailed further.

While there was not a consensus on distribution of funding to provinces and territories, the federal government intends a gradual transition to funding that reflects population while protecting the existing amounts provided to the less populous jurisdictions.

While federal funding for young offenders programs will not be increased, I agreed to speak to the provinces with respect to their concerns about how these federal transfers are to be spent.

Interim funding agreements are in place until June 30. I am looking forward to having five-year agreements finalized by then.

I also promised:

   
1. to communicate the views on young offenders policy to the Parliamentary Committee on Youth Justice; and
   
2. that the cost and administrative consequences for provinces and territories will be discussed by Deputy Ministers at their meeting in May.

Child Support Guidelines

My colleagues and I discussed the implementation of the child support guidelines.

All the provinces and territories that spoke to the issue indicated their preparedness to proceed on May 1^st, the same date as the tax treatment change comes into effect. While Ontario also indicated its readiness to implement by May 1, it expressed its concerns that funding and educational materials be made available by the federal government to help the public prepare for implementation by that date. The federal government outlined the schedule by which materials and funding will be made available to support the implementation.

Criminal Procedure Reform

I'd like to report that we had a good discussion on prospective reform of criminal procedure. Provincial- territorial and federal Justice officials have been working at this for several years now. We implemented a first set of reforms under Bill C-42 in 1994 that has already had a significant effect on the administration of justice. I am happy to report that the second stage (Bill C-17) is well underway and I am hopeful of its speedy passage in the Senate and foresee it coming into force as early as the summer. It contains over 140 clauses to help modernize the law, streamline court proceedings to reduce costs and eliminate unnecessary delays. Provincial and territorial ministers expressed their support for speedy passage of this Bill.

Provincial and territorial ministers unanimously expressed their disappointment that the third phase of this work which consists of substantial changes in such areas as reclassification of Criminal Code offences, the preliminary hearing, which will benefit victims and witnesses and modernize the justice system, has not been introduced in Parliament, and referred to the resolution to that effect, which they adopted at their meeting Wednesday.

We agreed that our officials should work together on the legislative language required to implement the third phase. It was stressed that this work should take into account the effect of recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, notably, R. v. Carosella.

Violence in Relationships:
Criminal Harassment and the
Defence of Provocation Relating to Violence against Women

Criminal Harassment

The Attorney General of B.C. urged Ministers to adopt stronger measures for dealing with criminal harassment (stalking), in particular to increase the maximum penalty from 5 to 10 years and to make specific amendments to the Criminal Code. Ministers agreed that their officials will study the detail of these recommendations and report back to Ministers on possible reforms at their next meeting.

Defence of "Provocation" Relating to Violence against Women

The Minister of Justice of the Yukon expressed concern over recent cases of extreme violence particularly against women which have been before the courts. We discussed in particular whether the defence of "provocation," as defined in the Criminal Code, suitably addresses our expectation of a non-violent society. Accordingly, we have asked our officials to review proposals from the Yukon as well as a proposal from PEI to restrict the publication of the identities of victims of crime and develop proposals for our consideration.

British Columbia requested that this review also address violence against gay men arising from cases in which a "homosexual panic defence" has been argued in the courts. This will also be looked at by officials.

Aboriginal Justice

Aboriginal Justice issues have been a regular part of our agenda since 1994.

A number of recent studies concerning aboriginal persons and the justice system were discussed.

Our discussions also included approaches such as community-based justice for Aboriginal people, restorative justice, and processes to support justice workers in learning about Aboriginal justice initiatives, culture and values.

At federal, provincial and territorial levels we shared ideas on how to develop and implement strategies that would improve the Justice system as it affects Aboriginal people.

 

As well provincial and territorial ministers brought to my attention work they had done on Wednesday. For instance,

On Modernization of Commercial Law
       
• Provincial and territorial ministers have asked the Civil Justice Committee, made up of senior officials, to liaise with the Uniform Law Conference and consumer officials to prepare a strategy to modernize commercial statute law for the next provincial and territorial ministers' meeting.

On Financial Exploitation of Crime
       
• Ministers approved a resolution referring to the Uniform Law Conference of Canada, the preparation, on a priority basis, of a draft model law, with work to be reviewed by Ministers at their next meeting.    

   

     

And, Ministers agreed that following a National Conference on Public Disclosure Managing High Risk Offenders In the Community (June, Winnipeg) officials from provincial and territorial jurisdictions in consultation with federal government, and led by Manitoba, will analyze options for a more consistent national approach to deal with public disclosure/notification regarding high risk offenders in the community.

Now I will ask Mr. Gray to report on issues discussed today.

Corrections Population Growth

Ministers discussed a progress report from officials, which I tabled, concerning implementation of recommendations in the report Corrections Population Growth, adopted and made public by Ministers at their meeting in Ottawa in May 1996.

Ministers were pleased to see that the report demonstrates that all jurisdictions have been making efforts to realize the shared goal of improving public safety while safely containing the growth of corrections populations. Officials reported that all eleven recommendations made last year are being implemented by the jurisdictions. Ministers agreed to make the Progress Report public.

We all agreed that we need a balanced approach that offenders posing high risk to the community must be held in custody but that many who pose a lower risk could be handled safely in the community. Mr. Rock and I also discussed Bill C-55, now before the House of Commons, noting that it combines effective measures for dealing with high-risk, violent offenders with safe alternatives to incarceration for low-risk non-violent offenders.

Provincial/Territorial Conditional Release

Ministers were pleased to hear that legislation to modernize and improve the law governing provincial and territorial temporary absence programs for provincial offenders had received Royal Assent and came into force February 19.

The legislation grew out of a draft model for legislative changes developed by a joint Federal/Provincial/Territorial working group. The subsequent legislation based on this model expands the types of temporary absence programs available, giving jurisdictions the flexibility to administer their particular programs according to their unique circumstances. Ministers believe these changes will make it easier for jurisdictions to manage their programs, especially in the case of short sentences.

Organized crime

I led a discussion on the recommendations of a national forum on organized crime convened by Allan Rock and myself last September. Participants at the Forum included police, academics, federal and provincial government officials and representatives from the business sector. Participants made a number of recommendations for legislative and regulatory changes to assist law enforcement and prosecutors in investigations of organized crime and money laundering.

I said that the federal government is now considering options for legislation regarding expanding the scope of enterprise crimes, the reporting of suspicious financial transactions and controls on the cross-border movement of currency. The Ministry of the Solicitor General is proceeding to establish regional and national coordinating committees to support law enforcement action against organized crime. Ministers agreed that it is crucial that all levels of government continue to work together on the problem to find national solutions.

DNA Databank

I told Ministers that I expect to introduce legislation soon to create a DNA Databank. The legislation follows-up on DNA warrant legislation passed last year. DNA is recognized as a powerful tool to identify offenders, secure convictions and even to exonerate the innocent.

I emphasized that there are a number of complex legal, scientific and jurisdictional aspects to be addressed in this new legislation.

I thanked jurisdictions for their participation in the national consultations undertaken by his Department and tabled a summary report on the consultations, which was also made public. There is a great deal of support among jurisdictions for the establishment of a DNA Databank.

Information Sharing

I raised the issue of improved information sharing between levels of government and among court, police and correctional systems.

All jurisdictions agreed that it was a priority to work together to improve information sharing in order to improve public safety.

Ministers recognized that the best and most complete information available about offenders is essential to all jurisdictions if they are to make sound decisions at every stage of the criminal justice process. Mr. Harnick and I today signed agreements that will greatly improve information sharing on offenders between our two jurisdictions.

I also cited the recent Ontario initiative to ensure that there is criminal record verification by police at the time offenders apply to change their names so that complete and up-to-date information is available on such offenders.

It was also agreed that jurisdictions should expand collaboration in the integration of technical systems to collect and communicate data on offenders.