Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The short answer is “as soon as possible” on both counts.

Both of these commissions are part of the government’s ongoing effort to modernize and improve Canada’s laws and legal institutions, and that includes Bill C-5 — an important step that we in the Senate took last week.

As we know, before it was abolished in 2006, the law commission helped advance critically important policy ideas, including in the areas of family law, the legalization of same-sex marriage, to name but two. We’re hopeful that it will help address some of today’s most pressing needs, such as systemic discrimination in the justice system.

The government has already allocated funds for the law commission’s re-establishment through Budget 2021, with $18 million over five years and $4 million ongoing. The process of finding commission members is under way.

The new criminal case review commission will strengthen our justice system by providing for the expeditious review of potential wrongful convictions by an independent body. The structure of the new review commission will be informed by the consultations led by former judges Harry LaForme and Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré, who published their final report earlier this year.