Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Issue No. 61 - Minutes of Proceedings - May 9, 2019

OTTAWA, Thursday, May 9, 2019
(142)

[English]

The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs met this day at 10:32 a.m., in room W120, 1 Wellington St., the chair, the Honourable Serge Joyal, P.C., presiding.

Members of the committee present: The Honourable Senators Batters, Boisvenu, Dalphond, Dupuis, Dyck, Gold, Joyal, P.C., Lankin, P.C., McIntyre and Pratte (10).

In attendance: Julian Walker and Maxime Charron-Tousignant, Analysts, Parliamentary Information and Research Services, Library of Parliament.

Also present: The official stenographers of the Senate.

Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the Senate on Thursday, April 4, 2019, the committee continued its examination of Bill C-75, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other Acts and to make consequential amendments to other Acts. (For complete text of the order of reference, see proceedings of the committee, Issue No. 60.)

WITNESSES:

Evangelical Fellowship of Canada:

Julia Beazley, Director, Public Policy.

Indigenous Bar Association:

Katherine Hensel, Barrister and Solicitor.

Service de Police de Longueuil:

Ghyslain Vallières, Prevention Police Officer, MOBILIS Project (by video conference);

Joëlle Safadi, Psychosocial Coordinator, MOBILIS Project (by video conference).

As an individual:

Fady Mansour, Criminal Lawyer.

Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa:

Michael A. Johnston, Barrister-at-Law.

As an individual:

Don Stuart, Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University (by video conference);

David A. Bird, Retired Counsel, Department of Justice Canada.

Aboriginal Legal Services:

Jonathan Rudin, Program Director (by video conference).

As an individual:

Brian R. Pfefferle, Defence Counsel (by video conference).

Barreau du Québec:

Pascal Lévesque, Chair of the Committee on Criminal Law;

Nicolas Le Grand Alary, Lawyer, Secretariat of the Order and Legal Affairs.

As an individual:

Elizabeth Sheehy, Professor Emerita of Law, University of Ottawa.

The chair made a statement.

Ms. Beazley, Ms. Hensel, Mr. Vallières and Ms. Safadi each made a statement and answered questions.

At 11:40 a.m., the committee suspended.

At 11:46 a.m., the committee resumed.

Mr. Mansour, Mr. Johnston, Mr. Stuart and Mr. Bird each made a statement and answered questions.

At 12:44 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 12:48 p.m., the committee resumed.

Mr. Rubin, Mr. Lévesque, Mr. Le Grand Alary, Ms. Sheehy and Mr. Pfefferle each made a statement and answered questions.

At 1:29 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the chair.

ATTEST:

Keli Hogan
Clerk of the Committee