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CANADA Debates of the Senate 2nd SESSION . 39th PARLIAMENT . VOLUME 144 . NUMBER 16 OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, November 27, 2007 ^ THE HONOURABLE NOËL A. KINSELLA SPEAKER CONTENTS (Daily index of proceedings appears at back of this issue). Debates and Publications: Chambers Building, Room 943, Tel. 996-0193 Published by the Senate Available from PWGSC ± Publishing and Depository Services, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0S5. Also available on the Internet: http://www.parl.gc.ca 304 THE SENATE Tuesday, November 27, 2007 The Senate met at 2 p.m., the Speaker in the chair. [Translation] Prayers. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ANTONIO LAMER, P.C., C.C. Hon. Dennis Dawson: Honourable senators, today is a sad day VISITORS IN THE GALLERY for the Canadian legal community and for all defenders of rights and freedoms in this country. The Right Honourable Antonio The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, I draw your Lamer passed away, leaving behind a great legacy. attention to the presence in the gallery of His Excellency Wolfgang Erlitz, President of the Federal Council of the Born in Montreal, he served in the Royal Canadian Artillery. Republic of Austria, who is leading a delegation of his He then obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of colleagues on their visit to Canada. Montreal and was later called to the Quebec bar. After spending some time in the private sector, he worked in a variety of capacities within the Canadian legal system and on a number On behalf of all honourable senators, I welcome you to the of boards of directors. Senate of Canada. He was appointed to the Superior Court of Quebec in 1969. In Hon. Senators: Hear, hear. 1971, he became vice-president of the Law Reform Commission of Canada, and its president in 1976. He was also a member of the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. Justice Lamer was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal of Quebec in 1978 and of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1980, and became Chief Justice of Canada, the highest position in the Canadian judiciary, in 1990. SENATORS' STATEMENTS . (1405) [English] JUSTICE He arrived at the Supreme Court just in time to leave his mark YOUTH CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT—COMMENTS BY on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and on the THE HONOURABLE SHARON CARSTAIRS Constitution. He set the tone for the respect of the Constitution, the Charter and the rights of individuals. Hon. Marjory LeBreton (Leader of the Government and [Translation] Secretary of State (Seniors)): Honourable senators, last Thursday during Question Period, Senator Carstairs posed a This great Quebecer and Canadian worked very hard series of questions related to Bill C-25, An Act to amend the throughout his brilliant career to defend his country's interests Youth Criminal Justice Act. The honourable senator stated: and those of his fellow Canadians. He will always be remembered as a great champion of the Canadian Charter of Rights and On Monday, while watching ``Politics'' on CBC, the Freedoms. His absolute commitment to the Charter principles Conservative spokesperson referred to amendments to the greatly contributed to giving that document the important status Youth Criminal Justice Act as having two purposes: that it enjoys today. deterrence and denigration. He also advanced jurisprudence related to Aboriginal law. I am convinced that francophones outside Quebec owe him a great I want to inform all honourable senators that this information debt of gratitude for protecting their rights. is incorrect. Rob Moore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, did not use the word ``denigration'' during Since his retirement I have had the pleasure of dining with him his appearance on CBC Newsworld's ``Politics'' on about a dozen times a year, and I learned a lot from him. I will November 19, 2007. miss our long dinners and our discussions. My colleague, Senator Nolin, attended some of these dinners, and I think he During his appearance on this program, the parliamentary too will remember them with fondness. secretary used the word ``denunciation'' repeatedly. Our government is seeking to include this sentencing principle, along His contributions will no doubt have a major impact on future with deterrence, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act to allow generations. the courts to consider it as an objective of sentencing. Mr. Moore clearly stated in this interview that this sentencing principle sends On behalf of all my parliamentary colleagues, and our friends the message that we, as a society, publicly condemn these criminal from the Press Club, I would like to extend our deepest actions. sympathies to the family and relatives of Mr. Lamer. November 27, 2007 SENATE DEBATES 305 [English] VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITMENT TO TROOPS JUSTICE Hon. Roméo Antonius Dallaire: Honourable senators, the LEGISLATION TO PREVENT IDENTITY THEFT following is a statement of commitment to our troops from Vimy to Afghanistan. Hon. Donald H. Oliver: Honourable senators, once again, our [Translation] Conservative government is showing real leadership in protecting Canadians from crime. Our government is tackling violent crime, In April of this year, we celebrated the ninetieth anniversary of has introduced a national anti-drug strategy and is working to the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Thousands of Canadian soldiers were increase penalties for criminals who use firearms. killed or injured during that battle, which was part of a long and bloody war. Almost 65 years ago, nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers Honourable senators who know of my interest in combating were killed, injured or taken prisoner on the beaches at Dieppe, Internet spam will not be surprised to know how keen I am to during another long and bloody war. These classic wars of the support legislation designed to prevent identity theft. past were fundamentally based on attrition. In order to achieve our objectives, we had to be prepared to accept a high number of casualties on our side, and show perseverance and determination ``Phishing'' is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire to sustain our efforts until the final victory, despite the sensitive information like user names, passwords and credit card bloodbaths and the suffering. information over the Internet. Spammers who masquerade as a trustworthy entity use this as a means to steal identities of . (1410) persons, corporations and even non-government organizations. [English] Consider, for example, two weeks ago, on November 14, the Those who fought in those classic wars sustained both physical Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and and mental injuries that remained with them for the rest of their Social Development, sent an email informing the public service lives. In those wars of attrition, the scale of losses and the massive that spammers had fraudulently posed as the Financial Consumer impact of casualties returning home challenge to a nation's core Agency of Canada — the FCAC. Spammers had sent emails to its will to pursue and be victorious. In this post-Cold War era, various Canadian financial institutions that claimed to be from where the casualty rates in civilian populations massively the FCAC and said they were investigating complaints. The email outweigh the losses of the militaries engaged in combat and recipients were directed to click a link in the email to view the protection tasks, the will of the sovereign developed countries is status of the complaint and to provide specific financial once again tested by the return of those valiant soldiers who pay information. This is how identities are stolen. the price of life and their future in so much more complex and ambiguous missions in farther-off lands than we could have Canada's new government is now turning its attention to this imagined in the past. important issue of identity theft. Identity theft is emerging as a major crime that can stalk anyone at any time. It is especially In this general period of remembrance, the question that dangerous to those, in particular seniors using the Internet, who arises from those who have borne the brunt of our desire, our may not even know that they are at risk. It is the ultimate invasion duty to maintain our security and to assist in bringing peace to of privacy. Using personal information gained from hacking or other peoples, is: Are we as worthy today as our elders of stolen personal records, fraudsters are ruthlessly stripping their commitment and of the enormous sacrifices they and their Canadians of their money, identity and self-respect. families are called upon to pay? [Translation] Abusing and misusing another person's identity information is already covered under the Criminal Code; but steps leading up to The death of a warrior on the battlefield, whether the soldier that point, such as collecting, possessing and trafficking in was killed or injured in Afghanistan, Korea or Europe during identity information, are generally not captured by existing World War II, is equally laudable, dreadful and worthy of our offences. Legislation now before the other place will change this respect and gratitude. situation by directly targeting aspects of identity theft. On the issue of the price that must be paid for peace and Nancy Hughes Anthony, head of the Canadian Bankers security in far-off lands where extremism and human rights abuse Association, has strongly endorsed this legislation, stating: are commonplace, the value remains the same, the price is just as high and the need just as great. This bill represents concrete action in the fight against [English] identity theft and we applaud and support today's efforts to put consumer protection at the forefront, where it should be. Weapons still exist that can obliterate the planet and all of its life forms within minutes, and powerful nations still resort to the This builds on the many initiatives our government is taking to use of military strength to impose their will or protect their protect Canadians from all forms of crime, while ensuring that influence on others.