Law Times

PAGE 2 NEWS January 19, 2009 • Law Times Fight against hate crimes and racism loses thousands BY ELIZABETH THOMPSON For Law Times OTTAWA — Thousands of dol- lars of federal Justice Department funding to fight racism and hate crimes has been lost, in part because the public and the legal community didn't know the money was avail- able, according to an internal Jus- tice Department report. Moreover, the study found that while the department was making progress in areas such as an Internet-hate tip line, it had accomplished very little in other areas such as interventions for perpetrators of hate crime. The 38-page study focuses on the Justice Department's component of the federal government's Action Plan Against Racism announced by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin's government in 2005. The action plan is a five-year, $56-mil- lion program involving four sepa- rate government departments to tackle racism across Canada. As part of the plan, $6.7 million was allocated to allow the Justice Department to work on three prin- ciple areas: addressing race-based issues in the justice system, inter- ventions for victims and perpetra- tors of hate crimes, and countering Internet-based hate crimes. However, an evaluation of the "If you attend only one CLE event in 2009 - this is it." GROW Canada's Premiere Legal Education Event February 2nd and 3rd Metro Toronto Convention Centre – South Building January 31st Ontario Bar Association Conference Centre – (Criminal Justice only) www.oba.org/2009institute 1-800-668-8900 Untitled-1 1 1/13/09 9:14:56 AM program completed in June and copyrighted by the government in November, found that thousands of dollars earmarked for the program never found its way to projects to combat hate crimes and racism. As a result of administrative problems within the Justice De- partment and lack of knowledge by the public that funding for justice initiatives was available, there have been "significant lapses" of funding, according to the internal report. "It appears as though the public is generally unaware that specific funding for anti-racism activities is available through the Department of Justice," wrote the authors. For example, at the time of the evaluation, only 11 organiza- tions had applied for racism ac- tion-plan grants or contributions through the department's Justice Partnership and Innovation Pro- gram. Of that number, only five had received funding. "The limited take-up of G&C component has resulted in the pro- vision of only $330,000 or 27 per cent of available funds since the im- plementation of the action plan," says the report. However, the report also notes that Justice Department offi- cials are trying to make people more aware that the funding is available. In its response to the evaluation, the department said all of the grants and contributions funding available for the 2008/09 fiscal year would be spent. Another problem identified by the evaluation was the length of time it sometimes takes the department to process funding applications. The report cited one case where an applicant applied in August 2007 for funding for a meeting that was to take place in late October. How- ever, the department didn't approve the funding until Nov. 5, meaning that the original work and room bookings were lost and the appli- cant had to redo his work. Administrative problems have also resulted in the program not being able to use all of the money it was originally allocated. For example, the report says the pro- gram never received the $50,000 that was allocated for contribu- tions in 2005-06 because the Jus- tice Department did not receive approval for its part of the initia- tive until Nov. 1, 2005. The Public Law Policy Section received funds in 2005-06 and 2006-07 to work on racial profil- ing that included public opinion research. However, because their research coincided with the imple- mentation of the Federal Account- ability Act, the section wasn't able to carry out some of its planned activi- ties and 40 per cent of the funding lapsed, says the report. The report says the Policy Cen- tre for Victim Issues had funding to bring training on dealing with victims of hate crimes to various jurisdictions and non-govern- mental organizations. However, at the time of the evaluation, only two groups had taken advantage of the money. LT Could be a boon for lawyers Continued from page 1 opinions are no longer needed, says the co-chairwoman of the Canadian Bar Association's secu- rities sub-committee. But those aspects are rarely a big part of transactions, she adds. Hendrickson says the panel's opt-in proposal could cause a demand for lawyers servicing clients within the federal system, and others in the provincial sys- tem. That could be a boon for lawyers, she says. "There is a fear that the work MATHEWS, DINSDALE & CLARK LLP is pleased to host the 11th Annual Canadian Labour Arbitration Competition January 23-25, 2009 at the Ontario Labour Relations Board A national competition for law students. This year's participants are: University of Alberta University of British Columbia University of Calgary Dalhousie University Queen's University University of Toronto University of Western Ontario York University - Osgoode Hall may migrate to the larger cen- tres as it has, sort of, under the U.S. system," she says. "Obvi- ously that's hard to predict in the long term." Borden Ladner Gervais LLP's Philippe Tardif says it's unlikely the new regulations would lead to more securities prosecutions, and thereby more work. "I would think we would see a greater focus on choosing or in allocating the resources on the right prosecutions; those pros- ecutions that have the greatest need for redress," he says. The idea of establishing a single securities regulator for all of Cana- da has been contemplated for over 70 years. A glut of previous expert reports and recommendations, www.lawtimesnews.com however, have done little more than gather dust on shelves. The end result, noted Hockin, is that Canada remains the only devel- oped country without a national securities regulator. That's why Anisman, who served as a legal adviser to the panel, says political will is key. Ontario is viewed as the strongest backer. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who also served as Ontario's budget chief, is a strong supporter of a nation- al regulator. But he faces a tough slog to convince political lead- ers in Alberta and Quebec, who largely remain opposed. The Hockin report outlined a transition period that would eventually allow market partici- pants to opt into the national system if individual provinces refuse to get on board. Hendrickson suggests Fla- herty's track record bodes well for a future Canadian Securities Commission. "If you look at his record and his approach, he is generally pret- ty good at doing what he says he's going to do, in this type of initia- tive at least," says Hendrickson. "He has been committed to this from the beginning and he has pushed it ahead." LT

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