44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 23, 2024 10:00AM
- May/23/24 7:28:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians need to understand what the charter protects. It protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, lawful assembly and Canadians' right to equality. It also protects Canadians' right to be presumed innocent under the law. These are quite fundamental.
What I find absolutely cavalier and astonishing is that instead of speculation, we have the Leader of the Opposition, a man who would purport to one day trying to become prime minister, openly declaring that he would use a clause within that document to trample on those charter rights.
That is really quite astonishing. First, because it has never been done before at the federal level, and that is for good reason. With the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we do not get to sort of cherry-pick which rights we are talking about and which rights we would purport to defend. The Leader of the Opposition talked about it in the context of criminal justice reform that he would purport to put in place.
Next, the charter deals with protections of things such as women's reproductive rights, Canadians' ability to marry the person they choose and their ability to use pronouns of their choice. These are fundamental rights for Canadians, and they deserve to be protected.
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- May/23/24 7:29:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps the minister could just reinforce the difference between the Liberal government's position and the position taken by the Leader of the Opposition, just so that Canadians can be assured, as long as this government is in power.
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- May/23/24 7:29:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are the party that invented the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We created it and passed it into law.
We are the party that will always stand by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that includes all charter rights and freedoms. We do not selectively choose some of them. We will defend every Canadian's rights under the charter, and not cavalierly invoke the notwithstanding clause.
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- May/23/24 7:30:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will move on to a different subject.
We are talking about court delays. I practised law in Ontario for 20 years before I had the privilege of serving in this House. We all know that court delays are caused by multiple different factors.
Perhaps the minister could share his thoughts on some of those other factors, including the provincial government's role in and responsibility for the court system.
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- May/23/24 7:30:24 p.m.
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The hon. minister has 22 seconds.
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- May/23/24 7:30:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the first point I would make is that I have appointed 106 judges in nine months, with respect to the heckles opposite. That is the fastest rate in modern Canadian history.
The second point I would make is that if all judicial vacancies evaporated, and there are only 6% around the country, we would still have issues that relate to court infrastructure, court personnel, backlogs and delays that are a result and a by-product of COVID and the need to modernize our court processes.
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- May/23/24 7:30:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on that point, the Liberal government, shortly after it was elected, increased the judicial complement in this country, including here in Ontario.
Perhaps the minister could take a moment to share with us the number of judicial appointments he has made since he was appointed as minister.
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- May/23/24 7:31:25 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we have increased the number of judges in this country over the last nine years by 116 in total.
The number of judges that I have been able to appoint in nine short months in this office is 106. The average of the Harper government, annually, was 65. We are literally working at twice the rate of the previous Conservative government.
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- May/23/24 7:31:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will get back to this later, but perhaps the minister could briefly touch upon, and reinforce, the changes that were made by the government to the appointment process that have enhanced the quality of the bench.
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- May/23/24 7:32:01 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the changes that have been made reflect a comprehensive questionnaire that looks at the lived experience of the individuals. We have put an emphasis on women, bilingualism and diversity. That has resulted in a level of appointments where 54% are women, and there have been 730 appointments so far. The previous government's track record was 30%.
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- May/23/24 7:32:24 p.m.
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Madam Chair, this is my first Committee of the Whole. I am very pleased to be here this evening. I am going to be using a question and answer format, if that is okay. I will ask a question and then let the minister answer it.
I am going to jump right into my questions, starting with the topic of appointing judges. Obviously, the timely appointment of judges is essential to a fair and equitable justice system. As we know, there are a number of judicial vacancies. Justice Wagner sent a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to fill the vacancies. As of today, there are still 57 vacancies to be filled. Can the minister tell us whether these posts will be filled by the end of the year?
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- May/23/24 7:33:09 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I can say is that I will do my best to fill any vacancies across the country. I want to point out that the number of vacancies in Quebec has diminished significantly since I took office. I am working very closely with the chief justices of the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Quebec Superior Court and the Attorney General of Quebec. As I just mentioned, I have already made 106 judicial appointments in my first nine months in office. That is a record-breaking number in modern Canadian history.
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- May/23/24 7:33:51 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for his efforts. Can he tell us how many positions still need to be filled in Quebec and when they will be filled?
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- May/23/24 7:34:00 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will try to find the exact figures for Quebec, but I am sure that there are not many vacancies in Quebec at this time.
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- May/23/24 7:34:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, how does the minister explain the significant delays in appointing judges? I understand that he has appointed several judges this year, but it is still taking too long.
How does he explain that?
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- May/23/24 7:34:26 p.m.
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Madam Chair, when I was appointed, I was shocked to learn that the delays were caused by the need for security screening. Of course that is necessary, but with the changes I have put in place, we have created a triage system where judges are considered before other public servants.
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- May/23/24 7:34:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, is that how we can improve the way judges are appointed in a timely manner? Is that the strategy he is proposing or is he working on a plan to improve the process?
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- May/23/24 7:35:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the process has improved because the candidate assessments are now valid for three months instead of two and the mandates of the judicial advisory committee members are now three years instead of two years.
To answer the previous question, the Court of Appeal needs two judges and the Quebec Superior Court needs six.
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- May/23/24 7:35:26 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the minister for those details.
I would now like him to talk about the Jordan decision, which has returned with a vengeance in Quebec in recent years. Recent decisions have brought to light the serious problems in our justice system in terms of delays.
Last weekend at the Festival international du journalisme de Carleton-sur-Mer, which took place in my riding, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court said that we are looking at the problem from the wrong side. Yes, the Jordan decision imposes timelines, but that benefits victims. When we think about the timelines, we rarely think about the victims. Because of the Jordan decision, they do not have to wait for years before they can testify. He also added that we should not seek to change the Jordan decision to extend the deadlines, but instead we should improve our justice system so that it is able to meet those deadlines. That requires massive investments in justice and the quick appointment of judges.
Does the minister agree with the Chief Justice?
I would also like to know what he is doing to improve delays in the justice system.
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- May/23/24 7:36:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, on a number of occasions, I have done my best to reduce the court backlogs. Obviously, that involves appointing judges. I am doing my best to fill those positions. In addition, I am currently working with Chief Justice Wagner on a committee on modernizing court operations. The committee is working on ways to improve processes in courts across Canada. For example, in the digital age, we are trying to find ways to speed up justice using artificial intelligence for complainants or people appearing before our courts, whether in a criminal or civil trial.
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