QUESTION PERIOD — Justice
Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission
October 6, 2026
In 2024, your government pushed hard for the Senate and our legal committee to pass Bill C-40 without any amendments because it was considered urgent to establish the Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission. The Minister of Justice then said that he anticipated it would take about a year to set up the commission. In fact, almost two years later, the commissioners have not even been appointed. Meanwhile, in the last year, Justice Minister Fraser ordered new appeals and trials for at least three separate cases where he suspects a miscarriage of justice occurred. Senator Moreau, it has been nearly two years. Why doesn’t your government have the arm’s-length Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission up and running yet so that the Minister of Justice and his officials don’t have to handle each wrongful conviction case piecemeal?
Well, it is a question that is taken seriously by the government. At this time, I will raise the question with the Minister of Justice. I was talking to him as recently as yesterday. Unfortunately, I did not have the question at that time, or I would have raised it with him.
I understand your preoccupation, and thank you for raising the question.
Senator Moreau, maybe you could add this to it. I tried to ensure the ongoing independence of the Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission with my amendment, supported by experts at our Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, but, once again, there was no time for thoughtful, reasoned amendments to make the bill better. As has now become commonplace, the Liberal government pushed the Senate and our committee to basically rubber-stamp the bill and do it quickly. Why did your government push through this flawed bill only to now delay justice for two years and counting for wrongfully convicted people and victims?
I disagree with some of your premises, Senator Batters. Whenever there is a time allocation motion here, it is not a motion of the government; it becomes, at the end of the day, a motion of the Senate. We are not ramming things through the Senate. We are discussing. We are dealing with the leaders at leaders’ meetings. Once we table a motion, the Senate is the master of its own moves. So whenever there is time allocation or whenever there is time allocated to a specific question, it is a matter that deals with the Senate’s authority, not the government’s.
