The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs

has the honour to present its

Your Committee, to which was referred Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conditional sentence of imprisonment), has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Tuesday, February 27, 2007, examined the said Bill and now reports the same without amendment but with observations, which are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

LORNA MILNE
Deputy Chair

Observations
to the eleventh report of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs (Bill C-9)

Your Committee notes with concern that this bill, along with other proposed amendments to the Criminal Code, are likely to have an impact on Canada’s legal aid system as a result of a reduced number of guilty pleas, and a greater number of appeals.  Though we note that the government has recently moved to stabilize federal funding of legal aid services, we believe the current funding may be inadequate given the changes the government is proposing in Bill C-9 and elsewhere.  We therefore urge the government to work with provincial governments and stakeholders to ensure that the federal government’s contribution to legal aid in Canada is increased to meet the needs of Canadians.

Furthermore, your Committee notes that the issues of conditional sentencing touched on in Bill C-9 address only part of Canada’s sentencing regime. We therefore propose to study the issue of sentencing more broadly at a future time.  Your Committee also expresses its concern about the lack of detailed data on conditional sentences and hopes that the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, will expand its research to enable us to better understand and evaluate the implications of Bill C-9, and how conditional sentences are implemented in the future.

Finally, in light of the amendment to Bill C-9 made by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights referring to criminal organization offences prosecuted by indictment and carrying maximum terms of imprisonment of ten years or more, your Committee notes that the offence of participation in the activities of a criminal organization, set out in section 467.11 of the Criminal Code, is not excluded from having a conditional sentence.  We accordingly suggest that a future study on sentencing consider the possibility that all “criminal organization offences,” as defined in section 2 of the Criminal Code, be ineligible for a conditional sentence.