Hon. Rodger Cuzner: Welcome here today, my friend. It’s always great to welcome another StFX-Ring into the upper chamber.

Minister, my question is with regard to a horrendous case — I know you’re familiar with it, and it’s back in the news in Nova Scotia — that of Fenwick MacIntosh, formerly from Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. He received a guilty verdict for 17 counts of sexual abuse against nine young boys back in the 1970s. Those charges were subsequently quashed by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, which was followed by the April 2013 Supreme Court of Canada dismissal of the Crown’s appeal.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision, a federal government report identified a number of human errors that might have been caught through better oversight, better follow-up and better communication between departments and agencies.

Can you comment on the steps taken by the Department of Justice Canada to ensure that incidents like this never happen again?

Hon. Sean Fraser, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: Thanks very much. Before I address the very serious question, it’s wonderful to see you here. It’s almost like they’re going to let anybody into this place, Senator Cuzner.

The issue, though, is extremely serious. This is a case that has captured the attention of people in our home province and not in a positive way. It has shone a light on the fact that there can be human errors within the justice system and, importantly, a very serious challenge around delays. There are certain day-to-day fixes we need to work on. We’re going to have to engage with this not just as a federal government but with the provincial counterparts who have carriage of the administration of justice.

In addition to working with provinces and taking care of our own backyard, we also need to deal with the issue of delays in the criminal trial process that have played out over years. I don’t want to comment on the specifics of an individual case, but we are seeking to address some of the delays which have been exacerbated since the challenging R. v. Jordan decision where Canadians are seeing cases involving complex drug investigations and cases of sexual assault, resulting in a stay for delay rather than because the person has faced and overcome charges.

We do intend to address some of these challenges through legislative reforms. It will include, specifically, conversations around how timelines ought to be calculated for the purpose of courts that may dismiss decisions for delays. It’s going to be looking at streamlining the process to ensure that there is not such a burdensome process of adducing evidence that will drag out the process and lead to more opportunities for things to be missed along the way or ultimately —

The Hon. the Speaker: Thank you, minister.