RECOMMENDATION

Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled “An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments”.

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Public Complaints and Review Commission Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) The following definitions apply in this Act.

  Agency

  Agency means the Canada Border Services Agency. (Agence)

  CBSA employee

  CBSA employee means any person who is or was an officer or employee of the Agency. (employé de l’ASFC )

  child

  child means a person who is or, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, appears to be under the age of 18 years. (enfant)

  Commission

  Commission means the Public Complaints and Review Commission established by subsection 3(1). (Commission)

  Commissioner

  Commissioner means the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (commissaire)

  employee of the Agency

  employee of the Agency includes any person who assists or assisted the Agency in the exercise of any of its powers or the performance of any of its duties and functions under the Canada Border Services Agency Act, other than a person who assists or assisted the Agency by reason only of an agreement or arrangement referred to in subsection 13(3) of that Act. (employé de l’Agence )

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. (ministre)

  President

  President means the President of the Agency. (président)

  proceedings

  proceedings means any investigation or hearing conducted by the Commission with respect to a complaint made under Part 2 or 3. (procédure)

  program legislation

  program legislation has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Canada Border Services Agency Act. (législation frontalière)

  RCMP

  RCMP means the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (Gendarmerie)

  RCMP employee

  RCMP employee means any person who is or was

  • (a) a member, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act; or

  • (b) a person appointed or employed under Part I of that Act. (employé de la GRC)

• Marginal note:Designation

  (2) Every person designated under subsection 9(2) of the Canada Border Services Agency Act is an officer or employee of the Canada Border Services Agency for the purposes of this Act and, when that person is exercising any power or performing any duty or function by reason of the designation, that person is deemed to be exercising a power or performing a duty or function under the Canada Border Services Agency Act.

• Marginal note:Complaints regarding level of service — RCMP

  (3) For the purposes of subsections 33(1) and 36(1), the taking of, or the failure to take, a decision in relation to the level of any service provided by the RCMP by a person who, at the time the decision was taken, or not taken, as the case may be, was an RCMP employee is deemed to be conduct by the person in the performance of a duty or function under the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act.

• Marginal note:Provincial ministers not RCMP employees

  (4) For greater certainty, nothing in subsection (3), 33(1) or 36(1) is to be construed as indicating that a provincial minister involved in the determination of the level of service provided by the RCMP in the province is acting as an RCMP employee.

• Marginal note:Complaints regarding level of service — Agency

  (5) For the purposes of subsections 33(2) and 36(2), the taking of, or the failure to take, a decision in relation to the level of any service provided by the Agency by a person who, at the time the decision was taken, or not taken, as the case may be, was an officer or employee of the Agency is deemed to be conduct by the person in the exercise of a power or the performance of a duty or function under the Canada Border Services Agency Act.

• Marginal note:Deeming

  (6) For the purposes of this Act, an employee of the Agency who assists or assisted the Agency in the exercise of any of its powers or the performance of any of its duties and functions under the Canada Border Services Agency Act is deemed to be exercising or to have exercised those powers or to be performing or to have performed those duties and functions.

PART 1Public Complaints and Review Commission

Establishment and Organization

Marginal note:Establishment

• 3 (1) The Public Complaints and Review Commission is established, consisting of a Chairperson, a Vice-chairperson and not more than three other members, appointed by the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Diversity and other factors

  (1.1) In making recommendations for appointments of members of the Commission, the Minister must seek to reflect the diversity of Canadian society and must take into account considerations such as gender equality and the overrepresentation of certain groups in the criminal justice system, including Indigenous peoples and Black persons.

• Marginal note:Ineligibility

  (2) A person is not eligible to be a member of the Commission, including the Chairperson or the Vice-chairperson, if that person

  • (a) is or was a member, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act;

  • (b) is or was an officer, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Customs Act, or is or was a person designated by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness as an officer under subsection 6(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, who, in performing their normal duties, is or was required to interact with the public; or

  • (c) is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

• Marginal note:Reappointment

  (3) A member of the Commission is eligible for reappointment on the expiry of that member’s term of office.

Marginal note:Full- or part-time

• 4 (1) The Chairperson is a full-time member of the Commission. The other members may be appointed as full-time or part-time members of the Commission.

• Marginal note:Tenure

  (2) Each member of the Commission holds office during good behaviour for a term of not more than five years but may be removed for cause at any time by the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Remuneration

  (3) Members of the Commission are to be paid the remuneration that is to be determined by the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Travel, living and other expenses

  (4) Members of the Commission are entitled to be reimbursed, in accordance with Treasury Board directives, for the travel, living and other expenses incurred in connection with their work for the Commission while absent, in the case of full-time members, from their ordinary place of work or, in the case of part-time members, from their ordinary place of residence.

• Marginal note:Application of Public Service Superannuation Act

  (5) The full-time members of the Commission are deemed to be employed in the public service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act.

• Marginal note:Application of other Acts

  (6) Members of the Commission are deemed to be employed in the federal public administration for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and any regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act.

Marginal note:Chairperson

• 5 (1) The Chairperson has the rank and all the power of a deputy head of a department and has supervision over and direction of the work and staff of the Commission.

• Marginal note:Meetings

  (2) The Chairperson presides at meetings of the Commission.

• Marginal note:Delegation

  (3) The Chairperson may delegate to the Vice-chairperson or, if the office of Vice-chairperson is vacant, to any other member of the Commission any of the Chairperson’s powers, duties and functions under this Act, except the power to delegate under this subsection and the powers, duties and functions under subsections 17(7), 25(2), 67(1) and 68(1).

• Marginal note:Absence or incapacity

  (4) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Chairperson or if the office of Chairperson is vacant, the Vice-chairperson has all the powers, duties and functions of the Chairperson. In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Vice-chairperson or if the office of Vice-chairperson is vacant, the Minister may authorize another member of the Commission to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Chairperson, but a member of the Commission so authorized is not entitled to act as Chairperson for more than 90 days without the Governor in Council’s approval.

Marginal note:Head office

• 6 (1) The head office of the Commission must be in the place in Canada that is designated by the Governor in Council or, if no place is designated, in the National Capital Region described in the schedule to the National Capital Act.

• Marginal note:Regional offices

  (2) The Commission may establish an office in any region of Canada.

• Marginal note:Staff

  (3) The officers and employees that are necessary for the proper conduct of the work of the Commission are to be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.

• Marginal note:Technical assistance

  (4) The Commission may, with Treasury Board’s approval,

  • (a) engage, on a temporary basis, the services of persons having technical or specialized knowledge of any matter relating to the work of the Commission to advise and assist the Commission in the exercise of its powers or the performance of its duties and functions under this Act; and

  • (b) fix and pay the remuneration and expenses of persons engaged under paragraph (a).

Powers, Duties and Functions

Marginal note:Powers, duties and functions of Commission

7 The Commission must exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions that are assigned to it by this Act.

Marginal note:Service standards respecting time limits

• 8 (1) The Commission, the RCMP and union representatives of RCMP employees must jointly establish service standards respecting the time limits within which reviews under subsection 28(1) or section 29 are to be conducted and the time limits within which each of them is to deal with complaints made under this Act and specifying the circumstances under which those time limits do not apply or the circumstances under which they may be extended. The Commission must publish on its website those service standards that are related to communications with complainants.

• Marginal note:Service standards respecting time limits

  (2) The Commission, the Agency and union representatives for CBSA employees must jointly establish service standards respecting the time limits within which reviews under subsection 28(2) are to be conducted and the time limits within which each of them is to deal with complaints made under this Act, and specifying the circumstances under which those time limits do not apply or the circumstances under which they may be extended. The Commission must publish on its website those service standards that are related to communications with complainants.

Marginal note:Education and information

9 The Commission must implement public education and information programs to make its mandate better known to the public and may conduct research and consult and cooperate with any person or entity, in or outside Canada, in matters relating to its mandate.

Marginal note:Rules

• 10 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the regulations, the Commission may make rules respecting

  • (a) the sittings of the Commission;

  • (b) the fixing of the quorum for the performance of the Commission’s duties and functions;

  • (c) the manner of dealing with matters and business before the Commission generally, including the practice and procedure before the Commission;

  • (d) the apportionment of the Commission’s work among its members; and

  • (e) the performance of the duties and functions of the Commission generally.

• Marginal note:Publication of proposed rules

  (2) A copy of each rule that the Commission proposes to make must be published in the Canada Gazette and a reasonable opportunity must be given to interested persons to make representations with respect to the proposed rule.

• Marginal note:Modification after publication

  (3) A proposed rule need not be published more than once, whether or not it has been amended as a result of any representations.

Marginal note:Protection

• 11 (1) No criminal, civil or administrative action or proceeding lies against the members, officers or employees of the Commission, or any person acting on behalf or under the direction of the Commission, for anything done, reported or said in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of any power, or the performance or purported performance of any duty or function, of the Commission or the Chairperson under this Act.

• Marginal note:Observer

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person who is designated as an observer under subsection 45.83(3) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, including as a result of section 45.98 of that Act, or designated as an observer under section 14.5 of the Canada Border Services Agency Act is deemed to be acting on behalf or under the direction of the Commission in the exercise or purported exercise of a power, or the performance or purported performance of any duty or function, of the Commission.

• Marginal note:No summons

  (3) A member, officer or employee of the Commission, or any person acting on behalf or under the direction of the Commission, is not a competent or compellable witness, in respect of any matter coming to the knowledge of the Commission or that person as a result of exercising a power or performing a duty or function of the Commission or the Chairperson, in any proceeding other than a prosecution for an offence under this Act, a prosecution for an offence under the Security of Information Act or a prosecution for an offence under section 132 or 136 of the Criminal Code.

Reporting

Marginal note:Special reports

• 12 (1) The Commission may, on the request of the Minister or on its own initiative, provide the Minister with a special report, and a summary of the report, concerning any matter that relates to its powers, duties and functions under this Act.

• Marginal note:Copy

  (2) The Minister must provide a copy of the report or summary to the Commissioner and the President on the same day as the Minister receives the report or summary.

• Marginal note:Summary to be made public

  (3) The Commission must make the summary of the report public after at least 15 days have elapsed after the day on which the summary is provided to the Minister.

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (4) When the Commission provides the report to the Minister, section 21 and subsection 22(2) do not apply in respect of any information referred to in subsection 16(4), or privileged information, as defined in subsection 17(1), set out in the report.