My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. As you know, some provinces, including Quebec, have to investigate cases of corruption that sometimes involve government employees or even elected officials. To conduct these investigations, the investigators need evidence that may be located abroad, for example, when investigating money laundering or identifying personal property purchased with public money. Currently, Canada’s prosecution services, at both the provincial and federal levels, must submit their requests for assistance from other prosecuting agencies around the world through the International Assistance Group, the IAG, at the Department of Justice. The IAG is the central authority.

I learned that, surprisingly, the Department of Justice’s central authority sometimes asks Canadian diplomats to intervene directly. Canadian diplomats act under the authority and policies of the executive branch. In an effort to respect the independence of prosecution authorities and to minimize the risk of political interference in the request process that usually occurs during the investigation phase, would it not be advisable to reinstate the central authority under the purview of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada? That is an independent and credible prosecution service with legal guarantees that limit the possibility of interference.

Hon. Peter Harder (Government Representative in the Senate): I thank the honourable senator for her question. Colleagues will recall that the honourable senator asked the minister this question when the minister was here. That happened at the end of that Question Period. There was an inadequate opportunity for the minister to both fully understand the question and to respond so this does give me the opportunity to respond.

The Minister of Justice is accountable to Parliament for the overall operation of the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act and its related treaties, but she is not personally involved in the operational review or approval of mutual assistance requests made by or to Canada.

The day-to-day review and assessment of requests have been delegated by the minister to her officials in the International Assistance Group, IAG, Canada’s central authority for extradition and mutual legal assistance. Counsel in the IAG has expertise in dealing with these issues and have contact with foreign partners in order to facilitate the processing of all requests. The IAG is a non-investigative body and is completely free from political influence. It treats all requests for mutual legal assistance equally, regardless of whether they emanate from a province or federal prosecution service.