Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I also want to thank all the witnesses for sharing their expertise to enlighten us.
What you are doing today and the work you do in your communities is extremely important. Thank you very much for that.
I want to begin by reassuring everyone who feels that the Conservatives are not using the charter properly. Sometimes, the charter is very important to them.
I introduced in the House of Commons a bill whose scope is international. Almost all Canadians agree that this bill is necessary, as it is likely to promote the respect of human rights. Yet the Conservatives decided to vote against that bill because they felt it was unconstitutional. Occasionally, the Conservatives love bringing up the charter to avoid certain situations.
Ms. Françoise Boivin: That's good publicity for your bill.
Ms. Ève Péclet: If my six Conservative colleagues are so concerned about human rights issues, I invite them to vote in favour of my bill. The vote will probably be held next December. Let's band together to save Bill C-583. I invite them to read that bill, which is extremely interesting. In my opinion, the bill is not unconstitutional, but we can debate that in the House of Commons.
My question is for Mr. Kirkup.
A woman testified this morning and did a very nice job. She analyzed the Bedford ruling and focused on section 121.
I do not know if this means anything to you. The Supreme Court of Canada stated the following:
Gross disproportionality under s. 7 of the Charter does not consider the beneficial effects of the law for society. It balances the negative effect on the individual against the purpose of the law, not against societal benefit that might flow from the law. As this Court said in Malmo-Levine....
The court said that
the balance must always go to the individuals at risk and touched directly by the legislation.
A lawyer also indicated that
it's constitutionally too broad based on the fact that there's no definition whatsoever of what is publicity, what is a public space, what is a commercial enterprise.
Can you comment on those two statements, which were made by witnesses who appeared before this committee?