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FEATURE 14 www.canadianlawyermag.com CROSS EXAMINED campaign targeting the right kind of social outcome?" he asks. "You should expect to see the result of those conversations turn into legislative reforms ... this fall." That reform process, Fraser insists, will not be rushed for optics. "We allow different voices with different perspectives to consider evidence from people who know what they're talking about and make informed recommendations," he explains. Parliamentary committee scrutiny, he adds, is where laws should be stress-tested. "I don't intend to tell committee members... I don't have the authority nor the intention to direct the will of individual parliamentarians." The provinces, meanwhile, are demanding more federal support. From legal aid and family courts to prosecuting hate crimes, the requests are piling up. But Fraser is cautious about simply writing cheques. "I do want to be careful not to simply say that we' ll put our hands up and allow different levels of government to upload their costs," he says. Still, he concedes that Ottawa has a role to play. "Where there are shortcomings in the areas of federal responsibility that might be contributing to the challenges we see ... we want to be a willing partner." He points to areas the federal government controls directly – RCMP resourcing, border enforcement, and judicial appointments. "We are now down to about 20 [judicial vacancies] nationally," he says. "My goal here is to fill the vacancies quickly ... and to remain current as we go forward." For Fraser, court vacancies aren't just an internal metric. "We need to move swiftly to have the next generation of judges appointed as quickly as vacancies become available," he says. A short bench, he warns, "can delay justice and erode public confidence." The department is also preparing updates to sentencing laws and reviewing the Criminal Code's handling of gender-based and intimate partner violence – issues Fraser calls a "moral obligation" to address. "Though serious penalties can be a deterrent, the likelihood that you're actually going to be caught and punished is also a deterrent," he says. Those changes won't be effective, he argues, without parallel investments in public safety. Complex crimes like auto theft – often involving cross-border syndicates – require a coordinated response. "We want to ensure that in areas where the federal government holds some responsibility ... we have a proper functioning system that can prosecute crimes without unreasonable delay," he says. As the fall session starts, Fraser's message to the legal community is clear: stay engaged. "You should expect to see a range of different opportunities as members of the profession to engage," he says. He doesn't just want passive feedback from stakeholders – he wants participation that shapes outcomes. "We want to be informed by the people who use the system ... but we also want to make sure that we're advancing the reforms in a way that are not just for the people who administer the system but [for] the people who are served by it." This article was based on an episode of CL Talk, Canadian Lawyer's podcast. All episodes can be found at canadianlawyermag.com/ cl-talk. "We should revisit the authorities and the processes that are used to determine who's going to be released on bail" RECENT JUSTICE ANNOUNCEMENTS $2.2M for Indigenous families in Nova Scotia Funding will expand trauma-informed support services for families of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Drug treatment courts expanded in Saskatchewan New federal funding supports a court in the Battlefords to divert offenders with addictions into treatment. UN Declaration progress report released Ottawa highlights new legal protections and an Indigenous justice strategy to combat systemic discrimination. Support for abused children in Moose Jaw $470,000 will fund a new child advocacy centre and expand victim support services in Saskatchewan.