Marginal note:Preservation

48. The Minister shall make reasonable efforts to preserve any thing seized under this Act pending its disposition.

Marginal note:Costs

49. The owner of a thing seized under this Act, or the person in possession of it at the time of its seizure, shall bear any associated seizure, storage, transfer, preservation or disposition costs.

Marginal note:Designation of analyst

50. The Minister may designate any individual, or class of individuals, as an analyst for the administration and enforcement of this Act and the regulations.

Marginal note:Analysis and examination

• 51. (1) An inspector may submit to an analyst, for analysis or examination, any thing seized or taken by the inspector.

• Marginal note:Certificate or report of analyst

  (2) An analyst who has made an analysis or examination may issue a certificate or report setting out the results of the analysis or examination.

Marginal note:Admissibility

• 52. (1) An analyst’s certificate or report is admissible in evidence in any prosecution for an offence under this Act if it

  • (a) appears to be signed by the analyst;

  • (b) states that a thing has been analyzed or examined by the analyst; and

  • (c) states the results of that analysis or examination.

  In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the certificate or report is proof of the statements contained in it without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed it.

• Marginal note:Attendance of analyst required

  (2) The party against whom a certificate or report is produced may, with leave of the court, require the analyst’s attendance for the purpose of cross-examination.

• Marginal note:Notice of intention to produce certificate or report

  (3) No certificate or report may be admitted in evidence unless, before the trial, the party intending to produce it has given reasonable notice of that intention, together with a copy of the certificate or report, to the party against whom it is intended to be produced.

Marginal note:General

53. Subject to sections 54 to 58, every person who contravenes this Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction,

• (a) in the case of a contravention with respect to a human pathogen that falls into Risk Group 2,

  • (i) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $50,000, and

  • (ii) for a subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $250,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three months, or to both; and

• (b) in all other cases,

  • (i) for a first offence, to a fine of not more than $250,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three months, or to both, and

  • (ii) for a subsequent offence, to a fine of not more than $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both.