1. Opening Remarks

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Introduction

Thank you, Mr./Madam Chair. Good evening.

I would like to start by acknowledging that we are meeting on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation.

I will provide 10 minutes of remarks, and then I will welcome questions from my Parliamentary Secretary, the member for Etobicoke–Lakeshore.

Justice Canada is seeking a total of $927.9 million in reference levels through the 2024–25 Main Estimates exercise. This represents a decrease of $59.7 million from the previous fiscal year.

My colleagues will speak about how the Department intends to use these funds to advance our Government’s priorities:

• to make our justice system more accessible,
• remove systemic barriers and discrimination,
• and support victims and survivors of crime.^{Footnote 1}

For my part, I would like to use my time to discuss measures in the recent Budget to combat crime, especially auto theft and money laundering. I will also touch on legal aid investments and provide an update on our work on online safety.

Measures to Combat Auto Theft

Mr./Madam Chair, auto theft is a serious matter affecting communities across the country. It not only hits the pocketbook, it makes people feel unsafe. The number of these thefts are on the rise, and in some areas, they are becoming more violent. Our government is committed to ensuring that police and prosecutors have the right tools to respond to auto theft. We also want to make sure that the law provides courts with the necessary measures to impose penalties which reflect their seriousness.

The Criminal Code already contains good tools to address auto theft. But we can do more.

This is why we announced, through Budget 2024, our intention to introduce legislation to amend the Criminal Code that would provide additional measures for law enforcement and prosecutors to address auto theft.

Bill C-69, the Budget Implementation Act, sets out these proposed measures. The amendments would include:

• New offences targeting auto theft and its links to violence and organized crime;
• New offences for possession and distribution of a device suitable for committing auto theft;
• A new offence for laundering proceeds of crime for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization;
• And a new aggravating factor at sentencing if an offender involved a young person in committing a crime.

These changes are part of the larger Federal Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft that was just released on May 20^th.

Auto theft is a complex crime and fighting it involves many partners – from federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, to industry leaders and law enforcement. We held a National Auto Theft Summit with these partners in February, and our work to combat auto theft continues to be informed by our collaboration with them.

Anti-Money Laundering Measures

I’ll now turn to the issue of money laundering. Like auto theft, the Government of Canada takes the issue of money laundering very seriously.

Dealing with it will help us combat organized crime, including its involvement in auto theft. However, the challenges associated with money laundering and organized crime go beyond auto theft.

This is why we continuously review our laws so that Canada can fight money laundering, organized crime and terrorism financing more effectively. With this, we need to balance respecting the Constitutional division of powers, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the privacy rights of people in Canada.

I’m pleased to say that proposed Criminal Code amendments announced in Budget 2024, and included in Bill C-69, would give us more tools to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. New measures would allow courts to issue an order that requires a person to keep an account open to assist in the investigation of a suspected criminal offence.

Courts would also be allowed to issue a production order for multiple specified dates. This would require a person to produce specified information to support an investigation into a criminal offence on multiple, pre-determined dates.

These two proposals flow from public consultations our government held last summer. We are committed to moving Bill C-69 through Parliament in a timely manner, so that the new measures are available to combat these serious crimes as soon as possible.

Legal Aid Investments

I would like to focus on legal aid as well. Just as we want to protect Canadians from crime, we also want to ensure that people have equitable access to justice, which is an integral part of a fair and just society. A strong legal aid system is a key aspect of this. It strengthens the overall justice system.

That is why Budget 2024 includes measures to increase funding to criminal legal aid, as well as legal aid for immigrants and refugees.

Criminal Legal Aid

For criminal legal aid, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $440 million over five years starting in 2024–25. This will support access to justice for Canadians who are unable to pay for legal support, in particular Indigenous people, and individuals from Black and other racialized communities.

This essential work is only possible with the continued collaboration between FPT governments. The proposed increase to the federal contribution will assist the provinces and territories to take further actions to increase access to justice. It will also help decrease the disproportional criminalization of these vulnerable groups.

Immigration and Refugee Legal Aid

For immigration and refugee legal aid, Budget 2024 proposes to provide $273.7 million over five years, starting in 2024–25, and $43.5 million ongoing.

This funding will support access to justice for economically disadvantaged asylum seekers and others involved in immigration proceedings.

To do this important work, Justice Canada continues to collaborate with provincial governments and legal aid service providers, as well as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Together, we’re exploring solutions that would support ongoing access to immigration and refugee legal aid services.

Online Safety

Before I conclude, I want to talk about another key legislative measure currently before Parliament. This is Bill C-63, which addresses online harms and online safety.

Much has already been said about the bill, which our government introduced earlier this year. If passed, it would create stronger protections for children online and better safeguards for everyone in Canada from online hate and other types of harmful content.

This proposed legislation is informed by what we heard over three plus years of consultations with diverse stakeholders, community groups, law enforcement and other Canadians. It really focuses on the duties of social media platforms in terms of the content they are hosting… Duties to keep children safe, to remove certain content and to act responsibly.

And that’s era defining.

This Bill is about keeping Canadians safe, which is one of my fundamental priorities as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

And it’s about ensuring that there’s actually a takedown requirement on two types of the most harmful material. These are child pornography and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

But there are five other categories of material that would be dealt with under this Bill, including material inciting violence, incitements to terrorism, hatred, bullying a child and also inducing a child to self-harm.

Mr./Madam Chair, I’m speaking to you not just as the Minister of Justice but also as a father. I think there’s nothing more fundamental than keeping our children safe.

This is a good piece of legislation, based on years of consultations and jurisprudence. So I’m very keen to debate this Bill, to have it get into committee, and to make any amendments that might be needed. I have heard Canadians’ concerns about the Bill, and I am confident that we will be able to adequately address them as it moves through Parliament.

I’ll stop there and leave time for questions.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about how we are making Canada safer and our justice system stronger, more accessible and more inclusive for all people.

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