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Canada fournira une traduction sur demande. 1 0,, 5 (, e) IN A PROUD TRADITION: A HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL OF CANADA Lry ,n r y, - , " 1 8 2007 ' • • - Fred Mohlmann Senior- Policy Analyst Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate Public Safety and Emergency Prepareddess Canada Ottawa JL 103 February 15, 2005 .S6 M5 2005 (ce document est disponible en français) •• 0_23 ••• f) • • ••••• •• ••• IN A PROUD TRADITION: • A HISTORY OF THE •• DEPARTMENT OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL • OF CANADA ••• •• •• •• •• 1 8 2007 - • ••• • 3 •• • •••• Fred Mohlmann • Senior Policy Analyst •• Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada •• Ottawa February 15, 2005 •••• (ce document est disponible en français) • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Richard Zublycki (January 31, 1944 — May 5, 2004) • • Richard Zubrycki, the former Director General of the Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate in the Department of the Solicitor General, had a strong passion for the • history of corrections and criminal justice. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the historical influences on corrections and criminal justice. He valued history for the lessons that it provides and for the light that it is able to cast on the future. And he put • this knowledge to good use in establishing the trajectory for Canadian correctional and • criminal justice policy well into the future. • During his career in corrections, which spanned the better part of five decades, Richard Zubrycki led teams responsible for introducing 17 Bills to Parliament, reflecting a wide • range of policy issues, including high-risk offenders, sex offender registry, and the Criminal Records Act reform. A major achievement that he led was the development of • the current Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which replaced the outdated • Penitentiary Act and Parole Act in 1992. This legislation was novel in its introduction of • a statement of purpose and principles and for reflecting the relatively new Charter of • Rights and Freedoms and common law principles that have stood the test of time. • Even more impressive than his achievements as a public servant was the way in which he • carried out his work every day. Richard's commitment and passion for his work was • inspiring. He displayed an extraordinary combination of wisdom, compassion, • generosity and humour, underpinned by an unerring sense for doing the right thing. He • was admired and loved by his colleagues. • it is entirely fitting that this history of the Department of the Solicitor General be • dedicated to him. He supported its development and commented on early drafts. Richard • would have been delighted to see it take its place on bookshelves across the country. • • - • • ••• •• TABLE OF CONTENTS ••• Prologue 1 Introduction 2 ••••• Roots 4 • Early antecedents 4 Pre- Confederation 8 ••• Confederation LI The Department of Justice and the Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General 11 ••• Corrections 14 Policing and National Security 14 Conditional Release 18 Criminal Law 21 The Office of the Solicitor General within the Department of Justice ••••• 21 The Department of the Solicitor General of Canada 28 ••• "Departmental Headquarters" 28 •• "The Secretariat" 35 Solicitor General 51 •• The Department of the Observations and Conclusions 55 Epilogue 58 Solicitors General of Canada 59 0011••• Biographies of Selected Early Solicitors General to 1966 62 00 Deputy Solicitors General of Canada 67 01/ ••• ••••••• • •• ••• ' PROLOGUE •••• The production of "In a Proud Tradition" is not without irony. Work on this volume, began in the summer of 2003. The intent then was to produce a historical overview of the ••• Depaiiment of the Solicitor General in time to mark the renewal of its Mission statement later that year. Within weeks of the completion of the manuscript for "In a Proud Tradition", Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the creation of the Department of ••• Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC), which signalled the end of the Department Solicitor General. ••••••• ••••• ••• ••• •••••• • •••• ••••••• ••• 1 ••• '• • '•• • INTRODUCTION • it is impossible to comprehend the present, much less guess at the future, without • knowledge of the past. ' • The history of the Department of the Solicitor General is a fascinating, but somewhat • tangled tale. However, once unravelled it leads to an understanding of not only how and • why criminal justice is administered in present-day Canada, but also of the role of the • Department within the Portfolio of the Solicitor General as it now exists. Moreover, a • knowledge of the history of provides important clues about the qualities required for the • • administration of criminal justice and public safety might be administered in the future. • • Before embarking on an exploration of the history of the Department of the Solicitor • General, it is important to understand the meaning of various terms that relate to the • present-day Solicitor General. The Department of the Solicitor General is a government department created by the Government Organization Act2. The Solicitor • General is the minister who presides over the Department of the Solicitor General. The • Portfolio of the Solicitor General 3 includes the following agencies: • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP); the Canadian Security Intelligence • Service (CSIS); the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC); the National Parole Board • (NPB); and, the Canada Firearms Centre. • • The agencies within the Solicitor General's Portfolio are at the core of Canada's criminal • justice system. Individually, collectively and collaboratively they contribute to the • maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society. And while the Portfolio agencies are • united under the Solicitor General to this end, their respective legal mandates and • operational focuses differ considerably. The Department supports the Solicitor General national • of Canada by advising and assisting the Solicitor General in exercising ID. W. Gullet 2Stamtes of Canada, 1966-67, Chapter 25. • 3The RCMP, CSIS, CSC and NPB, respectively, are governed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act • R.S. 1985, c. R-10; the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act R.S. 1985, c. C-23; and Corrections and Conditional Release Act S.C., 1992, c. 20, as amended. Regulations for Canadian Firearms Centred are under development. 41• 2 leadership in policing, law enforcement, security, corrections and conditional release; providing direction to the Agencies of the Portfolio; and answering in Cabinet and Parliament for the Portfolio. The Department of the Solicitor General has special relationships with other government departments, principally the Department of Justice from which it evolved in 1966; its various provincial and territorial counterparts and, increasingly with many jurisdictions outside Canada's borders. The historical considerations that led to the birth of the Department of the Solicitor General are as fascinating as they are complex and are inexorably intertwined with that of the Department of Justice. 3 ' • • • • • • ROOTS • EARLY ANTECEDENTS • Philip Stenning, quoted here at length, provides the following account of how the • principal components of Canada's modern criminal justice system developed from early • English legal traditions: • Th[e] principal institutions include: a sovereign who laid claim to jurisdiction • throughout the kingdom over offences against his or her "peace"; the concept of • the sovereign's "peace" which was broad, and which applied not only to the • sovereign's person and household, but also to all public and most private places; a system of royal justices and courts which serviced the entire kingdom, and before • which violations of the sovereign's peace (the so-called "pleas of the Crown") • could be prosecuted; and a system of law and procedure which gave standing both • to citizens and to various state officials to initiate and conduct such proceedings in • such courts. • Although such a system was well established in England by the early Middle • Ages, it was radically different from the prosecution process