CONCLUSION

In their brief concluding remarks, the Minister, Deputy Minister and the Assistant Deputy Minister thanked the participants for taking time out of their busy schedules to participate in the Roundtable. The ADM stressed the importance of having the provinces and territories on side for reforms or revisions to the Criminal Code.

The Deputy Minister noted much of the day's discussion focused on "governance" or how to actually succeed in undertaking criminal law reform and said there is probably no more contentious issue than what the criminal law should look like. He suggested there may be lessons to be learned from other jurisdictions that have already undertaken major reforms and said while legislation is important, there must also be links to other policy instruments and other government departments and initiatives. The Deputy also cautioned that police and provincial attorneys general, who did not take part in the Roundtable, might have a very different perspective on the issues discussed.

The Minister thanked every person for his or her participation and for sharing his or her insights with the Department. He encouraged everyone to refer to the speech he made to the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) in August 2002, where he indicated his strong commitment to reform of the criminal justice system. He noted that given the number of topics referred to the House of Commons Justice Committee, the number of private members' bills that are introduced and the daily questions during question period, there is no doubt that Parliament is interested in justice issues. He noted the many challenges of reforming the criminal law and emphasized the need to take on small manageable areas. He agreed that whatever is undertaken must have tangible results, be credible and be delivered in a reasonable, responsible and timely way. Reform of the Code must also be accompanied by appropriate social and economic intervention and community capacity building. He stressed the importance of talking to a broad range of stakeholders but also the need to have public education, as reform also presents communication challenges. He supported the need to set out values to guide reform. He too emphasized that only part of the justice community was represented at the roundtable and said discussions must also take place with law enforcement and the judiciary, as well as provinces and territories given their important roles in the criminal law.

The Minister stated his commitment to following up on his speech to the CBA and exploring options for reform.

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