National Security and Defence
Point of Order--Speaker's Ruling Reserved
February 6, 2020
I have a point of order that I would like to ask Your Honour to rule upon.
I had a concern during the senator’s entire speech about whether or not the sub judice rule, which usually applies in debate, not to participate in debate around matters that are currently before the court or even before tribunals that are connected to the court, might not have been applicable. Now I have even more concern that he is asking a committee to study a matter that is still before the court, and that has to do with the fact that the individual he has referred to a number of times in his speech has been charged with an offence and has not yet gone to trial.
I wonder if it is out of order for this matter to proceed any further at this stage, because if the matter is still before the court and the Senate is participating in a study of what led to the matter being before the court, I think that might be an issue where the Senate might come in conflict with what the court will ultimately decide. I have a concern about that.
I ask for a ruling from Your Honour on that point.
Does any other senator wish to enter the debate on the point of order?
I understand what Senator Sinclair is saying, and I know that he has legal experience. However, I don’t consider this to be a review of the murder itself. We want to look into the training that Parole Board members and corrections officers have before they review such cases.
I remind honourable senators that I’ve been asking for this for years. If we wait for the end of the trial, we could be waiting three or four years, if the case does not end up before the Supreme Court, which could take seven years. In the meantime, women will be in danger because criminals will be released. This case raises some serious concerns. What takes precedence? Would we rather take a look at the people who are releasing dangerous criminals or wait five to seven years to take action? I’ll be very concerned if we decide to wait.
With respect, this is on the point of order of Senator Sinclair. While I am concerned as well about the manner in which misogynist violence is dealt with within our system, perhaps Senator Boisvenu could tailor his motion or his request for a study to be more focused on how the system does not respond to those sorts of issues writ large.
I would thank honourable senators for their input on this point of order, and I will take it under advisement.
