Justice committee  I'm not aware that they've had any difficulty in interpreting them, but section 429 applies to that whole part.

Justice committee  Yes. That includes that existing offence in subsection 445(1) which is the offence of cruelty to animals other than cattle. That is the one that was used to prosecute the killer of Quanto in the first place.

Justice committee  I'm not aware.

Justice committee  First, if I may, just to respond to Mr. Casey, we don't want to have a debate going back and forth, I regret that I wasn't able to attend the hearing when that witness made those comments, but I don't see the word “negligence” in the proposed offence.

Justice committee  Yes, but what we're looking at here is a specific new offence that is carefully drawn. It imports certain parts of an existing offence for consistency's sake. Madam Boivin, I hope I understood your question. If not, you'll correct me. The object of the language isn't to make it a softer offence.

Justice committee  They're not in contradiction. One might be redundant, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Justice committee  In the Criminal Code, we find this expression in a number of offences. We have looked at the expression “wilfully and without lawful excuse”. We must also mention that the wording of the offence in this case is based on another offence, the one in section 445. The two are similar.

Justice committee  Yes, Mr. Chair. We did reflect on the question Mr. Casey put. In response to the comment made by Mr. Calkins a moment ago, it is true that lawyers may become unfamiliar with parts of the code. If you haven't prosecuted impaired driving for a while, you may not know that there's a specific provision that requires you to do X.

Justice committee  Madam Chair, I'd be pleased to make that undertaking. I will examine that, and through the minister's office will get the answer to you or through the chair.

Justice committee  What distinguishes a law enforcement animal from all other animals is that an attack on that animal is an attack on the administration of justice. That's a very important factor that distinguishes the law enforcement animal from all other animals, just as there's a reason we distinguish an assault on a peace officer, a police officer in particular, from assaults on ordinary individuals.

Justice committee  I appreciate your question, because it is true that when this particular provision was drafted not every person who falls within the definition of peace officer was included in this new definition of law enforcement officer. My understanding is that the park wardens obtain their peace officer status not through the Criminal Code but through the National Parks Act.

Justice committee  You do not know it's a policeman?

Justice committee  I think you're getting into the area of legitimate defence or legitimate excuse because one would expect even an undercover officer to identify himself as a peace officer, as a law enforcement officer, at the time that he's interacting with a private citizen. If I happen to say, “Stop, police,” and I happen to be accompanied by this dog, there's a certain knowledge that's communicated by the fact that the police officer has said, “Stop, police.”

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Well, there's a close connection. In some instances the dogs are wearing a kind of vest. Think of customs. Sometimes they wear what I'll call a vest that says “Customs” on the side, and there's maybe a flag, and that identifies them when they're walking through the airport. There's a handler with them, and that handler is always in a uniform.