Hon. David M. Wells (Acting Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Thank you and welcome, minister. This is my third time rising in this chamber to ask this question for which the Government Representative in the Senate was not able to provide an answer. You are the Minister of Public Safety, so I would hope that you would have this answer.

In February, more than 200 bank accounts, worth nearly $8 million, were frozen through the authority of the Emergencies Act. Those are 200 accounts of ordinary Canadians — not truckers, just ordinary Canadians. Given that the authority under the act was revoked on February 23, a full five weeks ago, will you tell this chamber — and indeed all Canadians — if any of the accounts remain frozen and, if so, under what authority given the revocation of the Emergencies Act?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you very much for the question, senator. I would begin by underlining that the illegal occupation that took place here in Ottawa, as well as the blockades that occurred at a number of our ports of entry in British Columbia, Manitoba and various ports of entry here in Ontario, presented a grave and serious threat to our security. It had a significant impact on our economy. Many Canadians were idled in their employment as a result of it. That is why we had to invoke the Emergencies Act, which included among its targeted powers the —

Hon. Kim Pate: Welcome, Minister Mendicino. While we recognize that Correctional Service Canada does not have control over who is sentenced to prison, correctional policies and decision making, as you know, have the power to either reinforce or help redress the current mass incarceration of those who are most marginalized.

What are your specific plans with the department to first build upon existing exchange of service agreements between provinces and territories to ensure and expand the use of transfers of prisoners with disabling mental health issues to provincial health care facilities, as authorized by section 29 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act — so that they can receive the appropriate health care and treatment they need — and second, to eradicate current policy and practical limits imposed by Corrections on sections 81 and 84 of the CCRA that legislate the transfer and conditional release of Indigenous prisoners and other marginalized prisoners to the care and custody of communities?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Thank you, senator, not only for the question but for your ongoing advocacy in this space. You know that I am passionate about these issues, having worked in the criminal justice system myself.

I will say that I think it is imperative that we work with provincial reformatories and governments in the correctional space to ensure that there are appropriate transfers according to the principles that are laid out in the statute, but I also want to take a moment to underline what the core of the problem is.

The core of the problem is the long and historic overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples, particularly in our jail systems, as a result of the systemic challenges and racism that we have seen within our criminal justice system. That is something that we have to change.

Among the many things that we are doing in Correctional Service Canada is allowing for the transfer flexibility and supports required are given to those who are serving out their sentences in our inmate facilities. We have to address the upstream challenges as well. That means making sure that we can divert Indigenous peoples away from the criminal justice system before they get there. That means investing in mental health, housing, education and continuing to make the progress that is needed around safe water. Those are root causes of the problems that you identified in your question, but certainly when it comes to transfers and other supports that we can provide, we will do that in a way that is consistent with rights under the Charter.

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: The short answer is as soon as possible. We are in the midst of discussions with leaders of Indigenous communities and the organizations that represent them at the national level. We are making a lot of progress in that regard, but we also need to start working with local communities.

The first practical step involves using federal investments to co-develop a bill to advance reconciliation in a way that respects the report and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. That is the first step.

Also, to finish my last answer to Senator Carignan, yes, a bill is planned to increase mandatory minimum sentences.

[English]

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Senator, thank you very much for the question. I will start by answering the last component of your question.

We are introducing transformative, new investments to both stabilize Indigenous policing for those communities that have access to it, but equally to expand Indigenous police services to those who are still in need of it. It is my sincere hope that we’re going to be able to move forward with legislation that will ensure that Indigenous policing is seen as an essential service, which it is, because Indigenous peoples, like all Canadians, have a right to be safe in their communities.

I will say that my mandate lays out very clearly a number of ways in which we hope to move forward, in conjunction with the RCMP, when it comes to transforming the police service. I am very encouraged by the conversations that I have had with the commissioner around making changes to our Management Advisory Board, which is an adjunct body that provides independent advice to the commissioner, by making additional changes around the way in which grievances are brought forward, particularly as it relates to those claims involving sexual harassment and violence within the service, to make sure that that process is independent and, lastly, to be sure that the RCMP is reflective of the diversity of our country.

In conclusion, I would say that I am very proud that the RCMP has deployed to the International Criminal Court to advance the investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.

Hon. Vernon White: Minister, thank you very much for being here. Since 2006 and just prior, the federal government made a decision to shift the three separate legacy agencies working at our borders to become a new agency: the Canada Border Services Agency. With the change came new training, equipment, firearms, use of force and new peace officer powers, but the officers are not police officers and cannot carry out the duties of police officers. I have asked ministers for the past decade why we do not shift the CBSA’s role at our inland and border crossings to provide them with the police officer designation, with immediate responsibility and accountability.

As we saw from the recent challenges at our border crossings — and there were many other incidents across Canada over the past years — it could have been helpful. Arguably, it would be helpful every day, as the access to police officers at the more than 100 Canada-U.S. border crossings is not always available. Canada is one of the very few countries, if not the only one, not to have that in place.

Why can we not action such a move from the current half measure to a more fulsome model of border security and law enforcement?

Hon. Renée Dupuis: Welcome to the Senate, minister.

Your mandate letter says that you are responsible for co‑developing a bill on First Nations policing. On March 22, your department and the two other ministers responsible for these issues launched an engagement process to consult with First Nations.

Funds have been allocated. You said earlier that you want to stabilize existing police services and also expand them to communities still in need of such services. Can you tell me how the funds are being allocated, since the situation in First Nations communities varies a lot from province to province?

Also, can you tell me what steps you plan to take following these initial consultations in order to be ready to introduce a bill, and what the deadline is for completing this process?

Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Minister, the Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for seizing goods produced by forced labour at the border.

Such seizures are very rare, partly because the standard of proof is almost impossible to meet. In addition, Canada releases hardly any information about the seized goods or the company involved, because it says this information is protected under the Privacy Act.

In the United States, however, the authorities are much more transparent. They have carried out 31 seizures in three years. They publish the date, the type of goods and the name of the supplier. Obviously, this information can then be used by American businesses to avoid sketchy suppliers.

By hiding information about seizures of goods produced by forced labour, isn’t Canada putting businesses’ commercial interests ahead of workers’ human rights?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Senator, I agree. We must protect workers’ rights. I know there is a bill to that effect. We will keep working with all members in the other place to study that bill.

At the same time, I must also assure you that there is a lot of cooperation between Canada and the United States. We share information pertaining to many cases, but we always respect privacy rights and Charter rights. There is a high degree of collaboration between our two countries. I know this because, in recent weeks, I have had productive meetings with my counterpart, Secretary Mayorkas of the Department of Homeland Security. Our collaboration is very important to protecting border integrity and Canada’s interests.

[English]

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Senator, thank you for that question and for highlighting advocacy that I am sensitive to.

I represent a community in Toronto where there’s a shooting more often than I’m comfortable even mentioning in this chamber. It can happen as often as every week at certain points of the year. In many of those cases, I know the people and the families who have been impacted by gun crime. I’m moved by their resilience to persevere, but we have to meet them at the moment that we find ourselves in, which means taking more action to reduce gun violence, including gun violence that is generated by handguns. For the benefit of this chamber, handguns are the number one type of killer in this country. It’s unacceptable.

That having been said, while we’re committed and while my mandate instructs me to work with provinces and territories to take more action on that front, it’s not the only thing that we need to be doing. We also need to be investing in law enforcement at our borders to stop illegal trafficking of guns into this country. Equally, we need to be investing in preventive strategies so that we can create safer spaces so that these tragedies don’t occur in the first place. My commitment to you is that we will do that work in cooperation with all of the communities across this country, so we can finally rid ourselves of this scourge.

Hon. Vernon White: Thank you, minister. Hopefully, we see you here more often. As you can see, there are lots of people with concerns.

I understand there’s been a promise to review the contract policing role of the RCMP and their dozens of contracts across this country. Can you walk us through the process that will be followed, who will be involved and what type of reporting might be offered to parliamentarians as that process takes place?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Senator, first, I’ll assure you that there will be transparency about the ways in which we are enhancing and modernizing contract policing services across this country. As you will you know and others in this chamber may know, the RCMP has recently become unionized, which is to say there’s representation of rank and file in the collective bargaining process that sets out, among other things, how we provide the RCMP with the resources and the tools they need in the communities where the RCMP has been contracted to provide policing services. I’ll just tell you a little bit about how that process is unfolding.

My officials, along with other branches within the government, are engaged directly with those provinces that have contracted through police service agreements with the RCMP. They are also engaged at the municipal level to ensure there is a way forward so that those communities and provinces that contracted the RCMP can recruit and retain the labour force that is necessary to ensure that we are providing public safety right across this country. We will be very transparent about how that process unfolds going forward.

[Translation]

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Minister, the lack of a response to my first question is very troubling and leads me to believe that the RCMP thinks it’s above the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights.

As the person responsible for enforcing laws in Canada, what would you say to the Savoie family in New Brunswick, who have been waiting 15 years for the RCMP to inform them of the circumstances surrounding the death of their 17-year-old daughter, who was killed by an impaired driver?

What would you say to the families in Portapique who are being denied the right to participate in the public inquiry into the killing of 22 people?

Is the RCMP not accountable to victims of crime and their families?

Regarding your question specifically, there is a process for victims, and there are principles enshrined in several laws to protect their rights. They have access to information on the justice system, and it is our government’s duty to defend the rights of victims so they can obtain justice.

[English]

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Senator, thank you very much for the question and for your advocacy.

As I have stated on a number of occasions during this Question Period, I believe we need to continue to move forward with an ambitious agenda to reform our criminal justice system. That also means looking at the overuse of mandatory minimum penalties, or MMPs, which the Supreme Court has repeatedly either struck down or noted as not being an effective tool for ensuring justice.

Where we are overly reliant on MMPs, all we’re doing is simply contributing to the revolving door of crime. It seems to me that we have to be smart about this. Part of taking a smart and effective approach is, first and foremost, recognizing that our courts and the judiciary are best situated to dispense justice according to the circumstances of the offence, the background of the offender and the best way to ensure that justice is delivered to victims but also, equally, to promote the rehabilitation of those individuals.

I assure you that the government, through the leadership of the Minister of Justice, is looking at and has identified a list of offences where we can repeal MMPs. We look forward to advancing that work in the chamber. We also look forward to your contributions here in the Senate as we move forward with that agenda.

Hon. Patricia Bovey: Thank you for being here today, minister.

International concerns regarding illegal trafficking of cultural property are serious and increasing with the alarming pillaging and looting of antiquities in many war-torn parts of the world, which now, alas, includes Ukraine. Works of art, the world’s third most trafficked commodities, have the fastest growing rate and fund the arms and drug trades.

It is clear that stronger international cooperation with UNESCO, with high, uniform operational standards that reinforce bilateral and regional cooperation frameworks of law enforcement and investigative agencies, are essential. I also believe stronger awareness and training of Canada’s border officials need to be addressed as well.

What is Canada doing to tighten and update our legal protections and regulations to meet the new challenges between source, transit and destination countries?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: To begin with, senator, I would point out that we were in Washington, D.C., just last week when this priority was specifically discussed. We talked about how we could prevent the kind of illegal trafficking of intellectual property, other counterfeits and other properties that have been stolen across our borders so they are interdicted.

Coming out of that meeting, there were concrete assurances from both sides to share information and intelligence so that our law enforcement branches, including the Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP, and, on the other side of the border, Customs and Border Protection and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as ATF, are working at the highest level of collaboration so that we can stop that crime from occurring in the first place.

Your question is very timely. It comes on the heels of a very productive meeting last week to battle transnational crime on this front, and we’re committed to continuing to work on it together.

Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Leader of the Opposition): Minister, last week, your colleague the Minister of Foreign Affairs was asked during a House of Commons committee meeting if she believed that Canada experienced foreign interference by state or state-backed actors in last year’s federal election. Minister Joly declined to answer, saying the matter was under the purview of the Minister of Public Safety.

So I will ask this of you, minister: Do you believe Canada experienced foreign interference by state or state-backed actors in the last federal election? If you agree that it took place, where will you lay the blame for this interference, and what will your government do to take action and prevent this in the future?

Hon. Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Safety: Senator, first, thank you for asking that question because it allows me to emphasize to you and to all members of this chamber that we are operating in an environment of heightened threats to our national security, including when it comes to foreign interference.

I would urge you, all of your colleagues in this chamber and indeed all Canadians, to be very much “eyes wide open” about what those threats are and how they have created a more complicated environment. We need to be sure that we are providing all of the tools and resources necessary to our national security apparatus so that we can mitigate those threats.

I also want to provide you with my assurance that all of the agencies that operate within my portfolio, as well as other portfolios, are on it. We’re very alive to these concerns. We need to be sure that we’re vigilant about mitigating those threats, and we need to do this work together.

Our commitment is to work with you and all parliamentarians to make sure we protect our national security.