MINISTER McLELLAN AND MINISTER MacAULAY PLEASED WITH OUTCOME OF FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL-TERRITORIAL MEETINGS

OTTAWA, September 12, 2000 - The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Solicitor General of Canada completed two days of meetings between Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice in Iqaluit.

"This meeting has been extremely productive. Together we have come up with plans of action for many of the justice issues that are important to Canadians," said Minister McLellan. "To respond to the concerns of people throughout Canada, jurisdictions need to co-operate and with this meeting, we have done just that. Important progress has been made in many areas, including organized crime, the protection of children, family law, domestic violence and legal aid."

"We made real progress together in improving public safety. We agreed to a National Action Plan on organized crime which will enable each jurisdiction to work on a set of national priorities in this area," said Minister MacAulay. "Our success in the fight against organized crime will only happen if we join forces and work together, and I believe this meeting has accomplished that goal. Our discussions also helped us to move forward on a number of areas of great importance to police, prosecutors and legislators."

Key achievements at the meeting include:

Organized Crime: Ministers established a shared plan of action to fight illegal drugs, outlaw motorcycle gangs, economic crimes and frauds, money laundering, high-tech crimes and crime on the Internet, and illegal immigration, including prostitution and trafficking in humans.

Protection of children: Minister McLellan committed to creating a new offence for Internet luring. In addition, Ministers agreed to develop strategies to protect children and youth from graphic violence in multi-media technology.

Family law: Minister McLellan indicated she would move forward on cross-Canada public consultations on reform of family law in collaboration with provinces and territories. Ministers also approved an Inter-Jurisdictional Maintenance Establishment and Enforcement Protocol expressing their commitment to the enforcement of family support orders across Canada.

Domestic Violence: Minister McLellan invited provinces and territories to a forum on spousal violence to be hosted by the Government of Canada this fall. In addition, a federal-provincial-territorial working group will review the implementation and status of existing charging and prosecutorial policy directives and will report back in one year.

Legal Aid: Minister McLellan committed to seek additional funding for criminal legal aid in order to improve access for Canadians.

DNA databank: Minister MacAulay reported on the successful launch of the new DNA Databank, which began operating on July 1, 2000 and reiterated its importance as a modern tool in the fight against crime.

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Ref.:

Farah Mohamed
Director of Communications
Minister's Office
Department of Justice
(613) 992-4621

Dan Brien 
Director of Communications
Minister's Office 
Solicitor General of Canada
(613) 991-2924