Human Rights and Decriminalization Done Right: Brief to Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on Bill C-5, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

 

Download PDF

Human Rights and Decriminalization Done Right: Brief to Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on Bill C-5, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

 On October 19 2022, CDPC was invited to participate in a study on Bill C-5, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. In the brief, CDPC outlined key considerations and necessary amendments in order for the proposed legislation to support human rights-based policy and alignment with the recommendations put forth in the Decriminalization Done Right civil society platform which was produced in 2021 in collaboration with 20 partner organizations and endorsed by over 100 organizations across Canada.

Key recommendations on Bill C-5 are as follows:

  • Amend Bill C-5 to include a full repeal of Section 4 and amendments to Section 5 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,
  • Introduce additional amendments to the declaration of principles in Section 10.1 that recognize in most cases substance use is not problematic; interventions must be voluntary; interventions must address improving social determinants of health; criminal sanctions imposed for necessity trafficking can increase the stigma associated with drug use and are not consistent with human rights or established public health evidence; and Black, Indigenous, racialized and low-income communities have been disproportionately affected by criminal sanctions imposed by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,
  • Amend Section 10.2(1) to remove any referrals made to individuals by peace officers for programs, agencies or service providers,
  • Amend Section 10.2 to include the development of national guidelines for peace officers enumerating clearly defined grounds under which a peace officer can stop and question a person for simple drug possession and necessity trafficking,
  • Remove Section 10.2(2) which states that any charges are valid despite the failure of a peace officer to consider options listed in Section 10.2(1) including taking no further action or warning the individual,
  • Amend Section 10.4 to ensure that solely demographic information of any warnings made by peace officers will be retained, rather than the identity of that individual,
  • Amend Section 10.6 to ensure that, once the sequestering system is implemented, any record of conviction under Section 4(1) is sequestered immediately rather than after two years, and
  • Amend Section 10.6 to ensure that the Governor in Council adopts as soon as practicable, and within one year of the sequestration system being implemented, regulations to remove and destroy those records after sequestration, so they are no longer accessible to law enforcement and other authorities.

To review key evidence and rationale for these recommendations, please review the brief in full.