CBA Supports Judges Act Amendments
The Canadian Bar Association supports the recent amendments to the Judges Act, Bill C-12, and is encouraging the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to pass the legislation without amendment.

In a March 27 letter to Committee Chair Andy Scott, the CBA praises the bill for promoting judicial independence; helping to attract high-quality candidates to the judiciary; and encouraging increased diversity in the judicial population. On a cautionary note, the CBA suggests that Bill C-12 is “not the appropriate context to raise concerns about judicial decisions or judicial decision-making generally.”


Lobbyist Registration Act Needs Amendments
Amendments to the Lobbyists Registration Act are required so that lawyers would be exempt from the disclosure requirements of the Act when the required disclosure treads on the professional obligations of confidentiality. So said the CBA in a recent submission to Parliament.

“Solicitor-client privilege is a fundamental principle arising from the common law, and is the foundation on which rest a number of human rights now enshrined in our Charter of Rights, but recognized and enforced long before the Charter,” said CBA Second Vice-President Simon Potter of Montreal, who brought the CBA’s recommendations before the Commons Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in May.

The CBA has recommended twice before that lawyers be exempt from disclosure for reasons of solicitor-client confidentiality. “The CBA continues to recommend that the Act be amended to make clear that a lawyer’s obligation of non-disclosure must be paramount over general requirements to disclose, if conflicts do arise,” says the association’s submission.

Lawyers operate under ethical requirements that simply don’t apply to non-lawyers. “Those ethical requirements exist not for the protection of lawyers, but for the protection of the citizen, a protection our society has long seen as essential,” said Mr. Potter.

The CBA argued that the proposed amendment would not interfere with the administration of the Act, but would still recognize that there will be occasions in which lawyers might be faced with the dilemma of a federal statute calling for a disclosure which would violate their most fundamental ethical obligation.


National: Bill C-24 Faces Strong CBA Opposition
The CBA’s National Criminal Justice Section came out in strong opposition in May to Bill C-24, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (organized crime and law enforcement), saying the sweeping changes are unnecessary and place law enforcement personnel and their agents above the law.

The legislation would create an exemption from criminal liability for law enforcement personnel who commit crimes, a move the CBA vigorously opposes. “The proposals assume that all police officers act in good faith at all times, but past experience has unfortunately shown that while this is generally the case, it is not always so,” said Greg DelBigio of Vancouver, a member of the National Criminal Justice Section executive.

The Section maintains that legal tools to combat organized crime already exist. “Measures to toughen up the law may erode constitutional values essential to Canadian democratic principles, without the promise of making any real difference,” DelBigio added.

The Section noted that any illegal act by state agents should be a last resort, after other investigative methods have failed, and should be authorized by a judge. While the Section recommends giving law enforcement departments adequate resources to properly carry out their work, they caution that legislative amendments are not a quick fix for complex social problems.

The CBA observed that the legislation is being given short shrift, given the timing of the government’s consultation process. “We felt that more time should be taken to review such a fundamental shift in law,” said DelBigio. “The Parliamentary Committee scheduled only two days of hearings on very short notice.”

These articles were published in the June 2001 issue of BarTalk. © 2001 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.