COMBATTING ORGANIZED CRIME
Sub-Committee on Organized Crime
of the Standing Committee on
Justice and Human Rights
Hon. Andy Scott, M.P.
Chair of the Standing Committee
Paul DeVillers, M.P.
Chair of the Sub-Committee
October 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
STANDING COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
SUB-COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZED CRIME
ORDER OF REFERENCE
INTRODUCTION
COMBATTING ORGANIZED CRIME
Background
of the Sub-Committee and objective of this Report
Process
that led to the preparation of this Interim Report
Recommendations of the
Sub-Committee
REQUEST FOR GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
DISSENTING OPINION OF THE BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS
STANDING COMMITTEE ON
JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
CHAIR |
Hon.
Andy Scott |
VICE-CHAIRS |
Chuck
Cadman |
Ivan
Grose |
MEMBERS |
Michel Bellehumeur
|
John McKay
|
Aileen Carroll
|
Lynn Myers
|
Irwin Cotler
|
Judy Sgro
|
Paul DeVillers
|
Myron Thompson
|
Peter MacKay
|
Pierrette Venne
|
John Maloney
|
Randy White
|
Peter Mancini
|
|
ASSOCIATE
MEMBERS |
Jim Abbott
|
Jason Kenney
|
Diane Ablonczy
|
Allan Kerpan
|
Rob Anders
|
Derrek Konrad
|
Roy Bailey
|
Eric Lowther
|
Leon Benoit
|
Gary Lunn
|
Bernard Bigras
|
Preston Manning
|
Cliff Breitkreuz
|
Richard Marceau
|
Garry Breitkreuz
|
Inky Mark
|
Rick Casson
|
Keith Martin
|
David Chatters
|
Philip Mayfield
|
John Cummins
|
Grant McNally
|
Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral
|
Réal Ménard
|
Stockwell Day
|
Val Meredith
|
Pierre de Savoye
|
Bob Mills
|
John Duncan
|
Lee Morrison
|
Reed Elley
|
Mark Muise
|
Ken Epp
|
Deepak Obhrai
|
Paul Forseth
|
Jim Pankiw
|
Bill Gilmour
|
Charlie Penson
|
Peter Goldring
|
John Reynolds
|
Jim Gouk
|
Gerry Ritz
|
Gurmant Grewal
|
Svend Robinson
|
Deborah Grey
|
Werner Schmidt
|
Dennis Gruending
|
Mike Scott
|
Michel Guimond
|
Monte Solberg
|
Art Hanger
|
Caroline St-Hilaire
|
Louise Hardy
|
Chuck Strahl
|
Richard Harris
|
Suzanne Tremblay
|
Grant Hill
|
Daniel Turp
|
Jay Hill
|
Maurice Vellacott
|
Howard Hilstrom
|
Tom Wappel
|
Rahim Jaffer
|
Ted White
|
Dale Johnston
|
John Williams
|
Jim Jones
|
|
CLERK OF THE COMMITTEE
Roger Préfontaine
RESEARCH STAFF OF THE COMMITTEE
Philip Rosen
Senior Analyst
SUB-COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZED CRIME
CHAIR |
Paul DeVillers |
MEMBERS |
Michel Bellehumeur
|
Peter Mancini
|
Gurmant Grewal
|
John McKay
|
Peter MacKay
|
Lynn Myers
|
John Maloney
|
Hon. Andy Scott
|
OTHER MEMBERS WHO
PARTICIPATED |
Réal Ménard
|
Pierrette Venne
|
CLERK OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE
Roger Préfontaine
RESEARCH STAFF OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE
Philip Rosen
Senior Analyst
Lyne Casavant
Research Officer
House of Commons
committees and legislative services directorate
2 nd Session /
36th Parliament
ORDER OF REFERENCE
Extract from the Journals of the House of Commons of
Tuesday, November 30, 1999
The Order was read for the consideration of the Business of Supply.
Mr. Bellehumeur (Berthier Montcalm), seconded by Mr.
Turp (Beauharnois Salaberry), moved, That this House instruct
the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to conduct a study of organized crime,
to analyse the options available to Parliament to combat the activities of criminal groups
and to report to the House no later than October 31, 2000.
Debate arose thereon.
Ms. Venne (Saint-Bruno Saint-Hubert), seconded by Mr.
Loubier (Saint-Hyacinthe Bagot), moved the following
amendment, That the motion be amended by inserting after the word
"combat"' the following:
"effectively"'
Debate arose thereon.
The House resumed consideration of the motion of Mr. Bellehumeur
(Berthier Montcalm), seconded by Mr. Turp
(Beauharnois Salaberry), in relation to the Business of Supply;
And of the amendment of Ms. Venne (Saint-Bruno Saint-
Hubert), seconded by Mr. Loubier (Saint-Hyacinthe Bagot).
The debate continued.
At 5:15 p.m., pursuant to Standing Order 81(16), the Speaker
interrupted the proceedings.
The question was put on the amendment and it was agreed to.
The question was put on the main motion, as amended, and it was agreed
to on the following division:
YEAS 254
NAYS 0
PAIRED 12
ATTEST
ROBERT MARLEAU
Clerk of the House
THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
has the honour to present its
NINTH REPORT
Pursuant to its Order of Reference dated November 30, 1999, a
Sub-Committee of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights was established to
conduct a study of organized crime, to analyse the options available to Parliament to
combat the activities of criminal groups.
The Sub-Committee agreed to present the following report to the
Committee.
Your Committee has adopted this report, which reads as follows:
COMBATTING
ORGANIZED CRIME
Background of the
Sub-Committee and objective of this Report
On November 30, 1999, a motion was unanimously agreed to by the
House of Commons, instructing the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights "to
conduct a study of organized crime [and] analyse the options available to Parliament to
combat the activities of criminal groups".
On April 4, 2000, pursuant to this instruction, the Committee struck a
sub-committee to carry out the study. Under the terms of the motion, the Sub-Committee on
Organized Crime had to report to the House no later than October 31, 2000.
This Interim Report complies with that instruction by the House.
However, it is not as complete as the Sub-Committee would have liked. The Sub-Committee
considers that it did not have enough time to carry out fully the mandate entrusted to it.
Nevertheless, given the extreme urgency of taking action on organized crime, the
Sub-Committee felt it was essential to share the information it has gathered so far with
the decision-makers and the Canadian public. It would like to present this information in
the form of recommendations. The following section will set out the considerations that
convinced the Sub-Committee to choose this approach.
First, we wish to explain briefly the process that led to the
preparation of this Report.
Process
that led to the preparation of this Interim Report
Given the complexity of the mandate conferred on the
Sub-Committee, it began by holding in camera briefing sessions, to master the key
elements of organized crime and discuss the work plan it should adopt to carry out
effectively the mandate entrusted to it by the Standing Committee on Justice and Human
Rights.
Having developed a work plan, the Sub-Committee held discussions, in
Ottawa and elsewhere, with persons working for law-enforcement agencies, experts and
individuals interested in the war on organized crime. The Sub-Committee also visited
various sites, in particular airports, ports and border posts, and familiarized itself
with the technology and other tools used by agencies fighting this phenomenon.
The sensitive nature of the mandate conferred on the Sub-Committee
resulted in the adoption of certain special measures designed to guarantee witnesses that
their evidence would be confidential. For example, nothing that the members of the
Sub-Committee were to hear during its in camera sittings was to be made public in
any way, directly or indirectly. All meetings of the Sub-Committee were to be held in
camera.
The desire to guarantee witnesses the confidentiality of their
evidence, and thus protect them, has meant that the Sub-Committees report must be
different from those normally tabled in the House of Commons. In the following section, we
present a series of recommendations. This approach has the advantage of making extremely
difficult any attempt to identify the witnesses from whom we gathered evidence in the
course of our study.
It is in this unique context that the Sub-Committee on Organized Crime
offers the following recommendations:
Recommendations of the
Sub-Committee
RECOMMENDATION 1
Ensure that the relevant elements of existing legislation, resources,
investigative and prosecutorial practices are being deployed to their fullest potential.
If this is not so, effective strategies to fill any gaps should be developed.
RECOMMENDATION 2
Amend the Criminal Code so that all its provisions related to
organized crime activities are brought together in a specific Part to be entitled
Enterprise Crime, Designated Drug Offences, Criminal Organizations, and Money Laundering.
RECOMMENDATION 3
Amend sections 2 and 467.1 of the Criminal Code to reduce the
number of participants in a criminal organization from 5 to 3.
RECOMMENDATION 4
Amend sections 2 and 467.1 of the Criminal Code so that the
predicate offences (contained in section 467.1(1)(b) as an offence to which an
accused is a party) include all indictable offences.
RECOMMENDATION 5
Amend sections 2 and 467.1 of the Criminal Code to remove the
requirement that some or all of the members of the criminal organization have committed
indictable offences within the preceding five years.
RECOMMENDATION 6
Amend the Criminal Code to allow for the designation of criminal
organization offenders in a manner similar to that applicable to dangerous offenders and
long-term offenders provided for at sections 752 and following of the Criminal Code.
This would allow at the sentencing stage, after a conviction has been obtained, for the
imposition of imprisonment for an indeterminate period or for long-term supervision in the
community after sentence for up to 10 years.
RECOMMENDATION 7
Amend sections 184 and following of the Criminal Code, dealing
with judicially authorized audio and video surveillance, to increase in non-criminal
organization offences from 60 days to 120 days the periods for which such activities can
be authorized and renewed.
RECOMMENDATION 8
Review and amend the provisions of Part VI of the Criminal Code
so as to streamline and simplify the requirements and practices involved in the judicial
approval and renewal of audio and video surveillance as a law enforcement investigative
strategy.
RECOMMENDATION 9
Amend section 743.6(1.1) of the Criminal Code to allow
sentencing judges to order that the offender serve the full sentence of incarceration
without any form of conditional release in cases where there is evidence the convicted
person committed an offence to the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with
a criminal organization.
RECOMMENDATION 10
Amend the Criminal Code so that there is a reverse onus
(dischargeable on a balance of probabilities) placed on a person convicted of an
enterprise crime, a designated substance offence, a criminal organization offence, or
money-laundering, whose assets have been seized, to prove that these assets have not been
acquired or increased in value as the result of criminal activity. If the convicted person
is unable to discharge this burden of proof to the satisfaction of the court, these assets
would be declared to be forfeited.
RECOMMENDATION 11
Amend section 231 of the Criminal Code to make first degree
murder the killing of anyone involved in the criminal justice system during or shortly
after investigative or criminal proceedings.
RECOMMENDATION 12
Further measures beyond those now in place should be developed to more
fully protect jurors serving in trials related to organized crime.
RECOMMENDATION 13
Amend the Canada Evidence Act to codify and simplify the rules
related to disclosure.
RECOMMENDATION 14
Ensure that human resources, expertise and technology levels are
sufficient to effectively combat organized crime.
RECOMMENDATION 15
Establish a national tactical coordinating committee to promote the
exchange of information and sharing of experiences among field operatives in order to
fight organized crime.
RECOMMENDATION 16
Establish special courts to try members of organized crime.
RECOMMENDATION 17
Establish special multidisciplinary teams of investigators and Crown
prosecutors to investigate and prosecute organized crime.
RECOMMENDATION 18
Carry out a country-wide campaign to raise public awareness of the
extent and impact of organized crime.
REQUEST FOR GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
The Committee requests that the Government provide a
comprehensive response to its Report in accordance with Standing Order 109.
A copy of the relevant Minutes of Proceedings of the Standing Committee
on Justice and Human Rights (Meeting No. 63 of the Second Session of the Thirty-sixth
Parliament) and of the Sub-Committee on Organized Crime (Meeting No. 16 of the
Second Session of the Thirty-sixth Parliament) is tabled.
Respectfully submitted,
Hon. Andy Scott
Chair
DISSENTING OPINION OF THE BLOC
QUÉBÉCOIS
The Bloc Québécois cannot subscribe to the interim
report of the Sub-Committee on Organized Crime of the Standing Committee on Justice and
Human Rights of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois puts forward the three following proposals, which
are in conformity with the positions it has previously taken.
The Bloc Québécois proposes that membership in a criminal
organization be made a crime.
The Bloc Québécois advocates making a reference to the Supreme Court
of Canada with the view of establishing whether or not the new definition of
"gang" is constitutional.
Should the Supreme Court declare the new clause unconstitutional, the
Bloc Québécois would still be of the opinion that the section 33 notwithstanding clause
of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be resorted to.
These three proposals are a minimum since the Bloc Québécois is of
the opinion that the issue of organized crime requires a more thorough analysis and wider
consultations.
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