If you would like to subscribe to the Committee`s mailing list to receive meeting papers and unworked transcripts, please send an email request to the Committee. These documents will be emailed to you as soon as they are available. In recent years, the committee has also examined issues such as the non-exception to Indigenous rights, user fees for pardon applications, the constitutionality of Canada`s military justice system, approved the pilot project on the use of voting tools for persons with disabilities, and the constitutionality of language rights in the North. The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs met for the first time on February 13, 1969. It was, in a way, the successor to the Standing Committee on Divorce, which had dealt with an increasing number of private divorce applications before the Divorce Act of 1968 introduced public divorce proceedings. The Divorce Commission remained in place for the 1st and 2nd Sessions of the 28th Parliament, but when the 3rd Session of the 28th Parliament adjourned on February 16, 1972, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee was the only Senate committee responsible for examining legal matters. To this end, the Committee most often deals with government bills to make specific amendments to the Criminal Code and other related legislation dealing with criminal justice in general. In recent years, the committee has reviewed criminal justice legislation relating to pardons, mega-trials, sex offenders, firearms, probation, cannabis legalization, convictions, child pornography, white-collar crime, prostitution, victims` rights, the Weak Hope Clause and the military justice system. For information on the committee`s current work, you can consult the terms of reference that the committee received from the Senate or review the committee`s procedures.

Detailed information on the committee`s current work is available on Parliament`s website under sencanada.ca/en/committees/lcjc. Because of the volume of legislation referred to this committee, it tends to conduct short and specific investigative studies directly related to its mandate. In most cases, this is the review of the law required by law. Between 2016 and 2017, the committee conducted a comprehensive review to address prolonged court delays in Canada and made 50 recommendations to the government. The report outlines the steps taken by the federal Minister of Justice, provincial governments, the judiciary and many other participants in the justice system to address long delays. The design of the criminal law falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Confederation, and amendments to the Criminal Code constitute a large part of the committee`s ongoing work. Criminal law includes matters of public safety, health and safety, as well as crimes against individuals and the administration of justice. For this reason, a number of controversial social issues such as abortion, prostitution, pornography and medical assistance in dying are usually investigated by this committee. In the past, the committee has received several bills to ensure that Canada`s linguistic duality is reflected in federal legislation. Highly technical bills, such as laws to harmonize federal and state laws in both official languages, continue to be referred to this committee because of the complexity and specific legal expertise that the study of these bills often requires. This committee also usually receives all legislation relating to the electoral process and electoral districts in Canada.

While the committee has a clear mandate to investigate constitutional or federal-provincial matters, important studies of this kind have recently been referred either to a special committee or to a joint committee of the Senate and the lower house. However, constitutional issues remain within the committee`s general scope of study, and the committee has been tasked with examining some of the Senate reform initiatives. Search the database for questions asked about estimates during hearings and answers provided. The database contains information for each of the eight legislative committees resulting from the hearings on the 2017-2018 budget estimates. Previous estimation cycles are available on the pages of each commission`s estimation rounds.