On June 12, 2026, Cassandra Richards, Co-chair of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association Legislation (CLA) Committee, appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs‘ study of Bill C-16

On June 12, 2026, Cassandra Richards, Co-chair of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association Legislation (CLA) Committee, appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs‘ study of Bill C-16, Protecting Victims Act on behalf of the CLA. You can watch the CLA’s submissions here: https://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/harmony/en/powerbrowser/powerbrowserv2?fk=700881&globalstreamid=3

First, the CLA urged the Committee to reconsider the proposed section on remedies for delay as they are unconstitutional- limiting the role of the judiciary. Further, the amendments risk reviving the culture of complacency the Supreme Court sought to eliminate, while failing to address the root causes of delay.

Second, remove the language requiring an accused to establish that a therapeutic record contains evidence capable of raising a reasonable doubt as to guilt as a precondition to production

Finally, the CLA recommended reconsidering the expansion of constructive first-degree murder. Terms like “coercive control,” are broad and imprecise. They capture a wide range of relationship dynamics that fall short of the level of violence that should justify first-degree murder.

You can read the CLA’s written submissions here:https://criminallawyers.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CLA-Bill-C-16-Position-1.pdf

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