Bill 11 – Witness Security Act
March 23, 2010
Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to rise and speak in support of Bill 11, the Witness Security Act. I think this is a bill that’s going to complement the current federal witness protection program by establishing a provincial program that’s tailored to the particular needs, in my mind, of Alberta Justice. The legislation will allow the Crown and local police agencies to provide short-term security for witnesses who are feeling a little bit apprehensive about testifying in court.
Mr. Speaker, the Witness Security Act that’s currently under the federal act works very well. I remember when I was in estimates with the Justice minister, and one of the questions I had put to her about this particular program was: who is going to pay for this particular act? At that time, if my memory serves me right, I recall her telling me that it was up to the police. I then said to the minister that whether the province pays for it or the police pay for it, it’s still taxpayers’ money. I mean, as a government we do give money to the provincial police force, and we also give money to the municipalities, who in turn will be paying for the police force. We were trying to get some costs in regard to what this would cost the province to enact this particular piece of legislation. Because it’s new, I wanted to find out, you know, if the minister had any idea of how many people would be entering the witness program, if she had any idea who would be entering the witness program, to get some kind of idea of the resources that were required. There’s no doubt that we need to have something like this. I think it is important that we do protect witnesses who’ve got some apprehensions or some concerns about going to court. You can tie that into gang-related activities, where you’ve got one gang member deciding that they want to testify against another gang member. The fear of intimidation amongst the gangs or organized crime is something that a particular individual who has decided to come forward and testify against another gang member, quite frankly, should be concerned about. One just needs to read the papers and see how they are taking care of another gang member when they don’t like interference on their drugs or any of the trafficking or prostitution that they’re doing. They simply decide to take them out in the streets, which, again, is a problem for the general public. We support this bill and like what the minister is trying to do. I think she’s done an admirable job in trying to do what’s important to Albertans and bringing forward what needs to be done, especially when we’re dealing with the issue of organized crime and gangs because, quite frankly, they’re out of control in this province, and they need to be addressed.
What I think needs to be answered from the minister are some of the things that she’s set up on the witness security co-ordinator, on the witness security panel. I’m sure that as we listen intently to the debate, she’ll provide us with more information.
Is there going to be any collaboration between what the federal government is doing under their witness program compared to what we will be doing under our witness protection program? We have federal RCMP in this province that are here – and I don’t know the exact numbers – that are dealing with some of this criminal activity, so where does the money kick in from the federal government?
Where does the money kick in from the provincial government? Is there going to be a co-ordinated approach with the federal government in regard to this witness program, considering that we have specialized teams in this province who are under police jurisdiction that are going after these gangs?
I know that when I was the Solicitor General, I formed the IROC team, which is the integrated response to organized crime. I’m not sure if that’s still in place, but it was hugely successful in going after these. I had the opportunity at the time to be able to see some of the takedowns, see some of their plans and actions on taking down organized crime. I know that the former Solicitor General was just as strong in carrying that forward. If I recall – and he may want to respond – I think he expanded it.
So I don’t think that we need to have: this is the federal government; this is the provincial government. What is the federal government doing in their witness protection versus what the provincial government is doing in their witness program? Are we going to have a co-ordinated approach with our federal government? I think those are some questions that I would like to have answered to find out exactly what our responsibility is under provincial jurisdiction versus what the federal government’s is under their federal jurisdiction. There is no question that we want to get rid of organized crime and gang-related activities, obviously, but for peace of mind for me I need to know exactly the parameters of what’s going to be operated on.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I’ll sit down, and I’ll listen to the debate. I look forward to the minister possibly in committee addressing some of those issues.
Thank you.
Mrs. Forsyth: Yes. Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the minister for standing up and speaking to some of our issues. I think that what’s important about democracy is clarity. Some of that clarity wasn’t so clear prior to us getting up and asking questions. What the minister has provided is, of course, some clarity, and we appreciate that.
A couple of things. I was madly taking notes. The minister is exactly right that in committee we have the opportunity to take this one step further and ask. Again, some of my concerns – and I addressed that in the beginning when I spoke up – are about the federal legislation. The minister spoke very passionately that the reason why the federal wasn’t working was because it was costly and it was the length to get into the witness program, if I understood her correctly. I guess I’m going to ask the minister again to respond to: what is she doing at the federal level to ensure that the federal government has this ability to be tough on crime? How is she going to move that forward and say, “Look, we know it’s costly, and we know it’s lengthy to get in”? Quite frankly, that’s inexcusable if we’re trying to protect not only Canadians but Albertans. If a province like Alberta can come up with a bill or a law that is going to, one, have police identify criminals who are prepared to come forth and, two, the ability to provide them witness protection in a very short period of time, as she indicated, if they need protection for 48 hours to think about it, I am having trouble, quite frankly, understanding why the federal government can’t do that. It makes perfect sense and perfect logic to me.
If I may, Mr. Speaker, I want to on the record thank the minister for standing up and speaking very passionately about how much she believes in Bill 11, the witness protection act. I appreciate, quite frankly, her clarity, and I look forward to some more debate when we get to committee. I think it’s important as an MLA to be able to answer these questions for my constituents on why we’re bringing this forward. I think the debate and the discussion have been, quite frankly, in my mind, very good. I just wanted to thank the minister. I’m sure she’ll provide the answers in regard to the federal. I look forward to hearing more about how the police have identified, quite frankly, criminals in this province that have said that they’re prepared to come forward but that they just want that little bit of a safety zone so that they can think about whether they’re going to testify against their associates.
Thank you.
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