Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Issue 10 - Third Report of the Committee

Thursday, May 15, 2003

The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has the honour to present its

THIRD REPORT

In accordance with the decision of the Senate adopting the Second Report of the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, of November 28, 2002, which had the effect of dividing Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (cruelty to animals and firearms) and the Firearms Act, into two bills, Bill C-10A, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (firearms) and the Firearms Act, and Bill C-10B, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (cruelty to animals), and which permitted your Committee to continue its study of Bill C-10B, your Committee now reports the same with the following amendments:

1. Page 1, clause 2: Replace lines 9 and 10 with the following:

``vertebrate, other than a human being.''.

2. Page 2, clause 2:

(a) Replace line 5 with the following:

``to, or the unnecessary death of, an animal;'',

(b) Delete line 10; and

(c) Reletter paragraphs 182.2 (1)(d) to 182.2 (1)(h) as paragraphs 182.2 (1)(c) to 182.2 (1)(g) and any cross- references thereto accordingly.

3. Page 3, clause 2: Add after line 10 the following:

``(3) No person shall be convicted of an offence under paragraph (1)(a) if the pain, suffering, injury or death is caused in the course of traditional hunting, trapping or fishing practices carried out by a person who is one of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada in any area in which Aboriginal peoples have harvesting rights under or by virtue of existing aboriginal or treaty rights within the meaning of section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and any pain, suffering or injury caused is no more than is reasonably necessary in the carrying out of those traditional practices.''.

4. Page 4, clause 2: Replace lines 22 to 24 with the following:

``182.5 No person shall be convicted of an offence under this Part where he proves that he acted with legal justification or excuse or with colour of right.''.

5. Page 5, clause 2: Replace, in the French version, line 5 with the following:

``perte de l'animal d'assistance policière ou des''.

Your Committee has also made certain observations, which are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

GÉRALD A. BEAUDOIN

Deputy Chair

OBSERVATIONS
to the
Third Report of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Comments on Bill C-10B, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (cruelty to animals)

Non-derogation clauses in proposed legislation have become an issue that transcends Bill C-10B. This is a difficult and complex area of law. The Minister of Justice has made a commitment to review the use of non-derogation clauses in federal statutes, and apparently indicated that legislation would be introduced in March 2003 to establish appropriate wording for these clauses and to perhaps remove contentious clauses that have been inserted in recent legislation. Your Committee agrees that this is no longer an issue to be addressed in a piecemeal fashion. There can no longer be a mixed approach to the use and wording of non-derogation clauses when the very intent of these clauses is to provide clarity and certainty to Aboriginal peoples with respect to their constitutional rights. Your Committee therefore intends to follow-up on the Minister of Justice's commitment to deal with this issue. We expect any legislative or other initiative to address this issue to be sent to the Committee for study.