Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A R C H 2 0 1 6 29 marijuana or developing a framework for an approach to review our justice system." Litigation review is already underway. "We're already deeply engaged in our liti- gation review and we will continue to be," Wilson-Raybould explains. "We certainly have taken action since I have entered into this role. Our litigation review will be consistent with the direction that we have been given to ensure that they are consis- tent with our commitments — whether that be in the area of indigenous peoples or with respect to veterans or immigration — that they uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our values." Some litigation has already been dropped. In November, the government abandoned its appeal of a Federal Court ruling that struck down the Conservative government's rule prohibiting a woman from taking the oath of citizenship with a niqab covering the lower part of her face. In December, the government dropped the appeal of a Federal Court decision that found that government cuts to refugee health benefits were unconstitutional. "I have the utmost respect for our insti- tutions of government and that includes the judiciary and decisions our courts make," says Wilson-Raybould. "I have the responsibility in this position, one, and in my own mandate letter, to review legisla- tion from the previous government and to review our approach to litigation. I see that as a huge responsibility, occupying a lot of — necessarily so — my time." Ensuring that legislation the govern- ment drafts is Charter compliant and that there are "substantive discussions among Parliamentarians" will be a pri- ority, she says. "One of the things for us moving forward into our mandate is ensuring that underlying all the decisions that we make is the utmost respect for the Charter and our values and ensur- ing that we're open and transparent as a government." MacKay predicts the Liberal govern- ment will be less likely to risk laws being struck down by the courts on Charter grounds. The Harper government "had difficulty producing Charter-compliant leg- islation at times. I suspect this government isn't going to have that difficulty." MacKay, who works as a Crown pros- ecutor in Halifax, says one of the tough- est challenges Wilson-Raybould may face is fulfilling the Liberal Party's promise to legalize marijuana. "I would think the legal- ization and regulation of marijuana looks like a pretty big one compared with the rest," he says. "That's going to be extraor- dinarily complicated, I think, and will take probably several years to develop. But then it was one of their campaign platforms so they pretty much have to follow up on that." Wilson-Raybould is already working on a game plan. "I never smoked marijuana. . . . That's my personal choice. In terms of legalizing and, more importantly, strictly regulating marijuana, I am working with the ministers of health and public safety to put in place a framework to approach legalization and regulation and we have committed to putting in place a task force that will work with the provinces and the territories and other stakeholders to ensure that we approach this in a comprehensive way and ensure that people's voices are heard. And that ultimately we keep it out of the hands of kids and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals." Some are hoping Wilson-Raybould's experience as a Crown will influence her decisions on mandatory minimum sen- tences. Vancouver's La Liberté says judges are appalled by the mandatory minimums and have been "throwing out cases on the most specious arguments because they didn't like it being forced down their throat. Right now with these mandatory sentences, there's almost more discretion in the pros- ecutor than there is in the judge." Wilson Raybould says she will be look- ing at the 51 new mandatory minimum sentences introduced over the past 10 years. After her experience as a prosecu- tor on those gritty streets of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside she recognizes the need for judges to be able to exercise discretion. "I think that we need to under- stand when it comes to vulnerable people, particularly, that come before the criminal justice system that there are other reasons other than being inherently a criminal. Realities such as poverty, such as addic- tion, mental health issues, that we col- lectively as a community need to address — whether that's being preventative or when they are actually within the crimi- nal justice system, looking at restorative justice measures to do as much as we can to ensure for those people that it's not a revolving door — that they're not going to come back based on other issues that they may be having, that we can find a broader approach to ensuring that that door is not revolving." "She's not swayed by emotion. She has been attacked in many different ways by people and she carries herself with class. She keeps on the high road, if you will. She's tenacious. She doesn't rattle. Methodical. Thorough. You see a problem and either put it into [an] action plan or you keep dwelling on the problem, but she'll come up with an action plan." Kory Wilson

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