Senate panel amends justice bill

Violence against Indigenous women targeted

OTTAWA • A Senate committee has passed amendments to the government’s massive criminal justice legislation, Bill C-75, including changes that would require judges to consider harsher sentences for violence against Indigenous women.

The changes are based in part on the recent testimony of Marion Buller, chief commissioner of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. The inquiry’s final report will be released next week, but the Senate amendments mean a version of some of Buller’s recommendations could become law before the scheduled fall election.

The amendments still need to pass a vote in the full Senate chamber, and would then go to the House of Commons, which could reject them. The Senate generally defers to the elected Commons when there are disagreements over a bill.

The Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee also passed an amendment to Bill C-75 that would bring back the option for preliminary inquiries for hundreds of criminal offences, reversing the government’s move to scrap them except for offences carrying a sentence of life imprisonment.

Preliminary inquiries are court hearings to determine if there is enough evidence to move to trial. In Bill C-75, the government planned to remove most of them for two main reasons: to reduce court delays, and to prevent the “re-victimization” of requiring two rounds of testimony — particularly in sexual assault cases.

Independent Sen. Pierre Dalphond, a former judge, passed an amendment to bring back the option of preliminary inquiries for most indictable offences as long as the judge ensures the impact on complainants is mitigated. A justice official warned the committee this would increase the number of offences permitting preliminary inquiries from 70 to 463, and potentially increase court delays.

In a statement, Justice Minister David Lametti’s office stood by the rationale for removing most preliminary inquiries, saying it was a request of provincial governments and would “free up court time and resources without impacting an accused’s Charter rights to a fair trial.”

In anticipation of the national inquiry’s final report, Sen. Lillian Dyck, a Liberal who became the first female First Nations senator in 2005, proposed three amendments based on recommendations Buller made at a committee hearing earlier this month. The report is due June 3, but Dyck said it was important to amend the bill ahead of time, as there is little time left to make legislative changes before the fall election.