Bill No. 155 - Public Prosecutions Act (amended) - 3rd reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, I'll just speak briefly. We support the bill but we echo the concerns that were originally raised by the Leader of the Official Opposition around some of the ways in which this bill may knowingly or unknowingly impact effort towards diversifying the Public Prosecution Service.

These stem directly from the letter that was previously tabled from the Decade for Persons of African Descent (DPAD) who had very specific recommendations and challenges with some of the ways this bill was being amended. Specifically that because the pool of people who will be able to be considered for senior jobs will come from the existing pool, which is largely white and largely male, and that that will continue. There isn't an opportunity to diversify that because of the narrow parameters put forward in the bill.

Further, the amendment that my colleague brought around a senior leadership position around equity inclusion, we thought was good and should have been, and hopefully will be, considered in the future.

There are also some challenges with the notion that the minister himself will now have a great deal of exclusive jurisdiction over hiring. That may not be an issue now but who knows. We like to have safeguards around those things. It's an independent prosecution service, after all.

We will look and see what these changes bring. We hope it will be positive and we hope that some of those recommendations from DPAD will remain on the minister's desk and will continue to be considered.