Senator wants to take DNA from
almost all offenders
Boosting the National DNA Data Bank (NDDB) to give authorities the means to take advantage of technological advances to solve unsolved crimes: this is the idea of Senator Claude Carignan, who wants to make the registration
of the DNA profile of almost any new offender automatic.
Canada is "lagging behind" in the field of DNA analysis, says the senator, in an interview with La Presse. "Many situations could have been resolved now and several current situations could be resolved," he says on the other end of the phone.
That is why Claude Carignan introduced Bill S-231 in the Senate. The objective of the latter: to make the taking of a DNA sample automatic from almost all people convicted of a crime in Canada.
Conservative Senator Claude Carignan
While a DNA sample can currently be taken from people convicted of certain crimes, the current list of these is "long and complex" and does not include all criminal offences.
More data could be collected to populate the NDDB, a huge directory managed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and accessible to police forces across the country to support them in their investigations. By comparing DNA found at a crime scene to the samples it contains, police can easily determine the identity of a suspect, provided it is recorded there.
However, the NDDB contains relatively little data compared to other similar banks in other countries, argues Claude Carignan.
In England, there are 10 times more DNA profiles per capita than in Canada.
Conservative Senator Claude Carignan
If passed, his bill would also make it possible, "in certain circumstances," to use the NDDB to conduct a search by relationship, allowing authorities to benefit from recent technological advances in DNAanalysis.1
Roughly speaking, police forces would be able to identify a suspect based on the DNA he would have left at a crime scene by comparing him to that of a biological parent who would have provided his DNA to the Bank as part of a conviction.
Turning the page earlierThe honourable senator has received strong support for his approach, that of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP). "This is an essential change," she said in a brief presented in early February to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
The CACP cites the case of Christine Jessop, whose abduction and death in 1984 shocked Canada and resulted in the conviction of an innocent man. The real culprit, Calvin Hoover, was identified by Toronto police 36 years later, in 2020, thanks
to technological advances in the field of DNAanalysis.2
If Senator Claude Carignan's bill had been in force in 2007, when Hoover was convicted of impaired driving,
his DNA profile would have been added to the NDDB.
Christine's murder could have been solved 13 years earlier. Mr. Hoover, who died in 2015, could have been tried for Christine's murder. The Jessop family could have found justice and Mr. Morin could have turned the page a little more.
Excerpt from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) Submission
"We don't have the right not to use all the means that science offers us," concludes Mr. Carignan.
Ethical issuesThe amendments proposed by his bill, however, raise several ethical questions, says bioethics professor Bryn Williams-Jones, director of the department of social and preventive medicine at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal.
Unlike fingerprints, which are already taken more widely, but which are "individual", DNA is "familial", he points out. "If my father or grandfather was recorded, but I was not involved in anything, this data is still there?" he asks by way of example.
According to Claude Carignan, however, his bill provides several mechanisms to protect the personal information of contributors to the NDDB.
Moreover, the Supreme Court has already considered the constitutionality of the DNA sampling of offenders and ruled that the quality of the information offered takes precedence over the invasion of the privacy of the offenders, he recalls.
The honourable senator is hopeful that his bill will make its way through the Senate by the time we break next summer. After this step, a Member will then have to sponsor it so that it can be formally passed in the House of Commons.
While few Senate bills are passed in the House of Commons, this was the case for another project led by Claude Carignan,
on the protection of journalistic sources.
Presented in the wake of revelations about the surveillance by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal and the Sûreté du Québec of several journalists in Quebec, including columnist Patrick Lagacé of La Presse, this latest legislation was unanimously adopted by the House of Commons in October 2017.
of the DNA profile of almost any new offender automatic.
Canada is "lagging behind" in the field of DNA analysis, says the senator, in an interview with La Presse. "Many situations could have been resolved now and several current situations could be resolved," he says on the other end of the phone.
That is why Claude Carignan introduced Bill S-231 in the Senate. The objective of the latter: to make the taking of a DNA sample automatic from almost all people convicted of a crime in Canada.
Conservative Senator Claude Carignan
While a DNA sample can currently be taken from people convicted of certain crimes, the current list of these is "long and complex" and does not include all criminal offences.
More data could be collected to populate the NDDB, a huge directory managed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and accessible to police forces across the country to support them in their investigations. By comparing DNA found at a crime scene to the samples it contains, police can easily determine the identity of a suspect, provided it is recorded there.
However, the NDDB contains relatively little data compared to other similar banks in other countries, argues Claude Carignan.
In England, there are 10 times more DNA profiles per capita than in Canada.
Conservative Senator Claude Carignan
If passed, his bill would also make it possible, "in certain circumstances," to use the NDDB to conduct a search by relationship, allowing authorities to benefit from recent technological advances in DNAanalysis.1
Roughly speaking, police forces would be able to identify a suspect based on the DNA he would have left at a crime scene by comparing him to that of a biological parent who would have provided his DNA to the Bank as part of a conviction.
Turning the page earlierThe honourable senator has received strong support for his approach, that of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP). "This is an essential change," she said in a brief presented in early February to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
The CACP cites the case of Christine Jessop, whose abduction and death in 1984 shocked Canada and resulted in the conviction of an innocent man. The real culprit, Calvin Hoover, was identified by Toronto police 36 years later, in 2020, thanks
to technological advances in the field of DNAanalysis.2
If Senator Claude Carignan's bill had been in force in 2007, when Hoover was convicted of impaired driving,
his DNA profile would have been added to the NDDB.
Christine's murder could have been solved 13 years earlier. Mr. Hoover, who died in 2015, could have been tried for Christine's murder. The Jessop family could have found justice and Mr. Morin could have turned the page a little more.
Excerpt from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) Submission
"We don't have the right not to use all the means that science offers us," concludes Mr. Carignan.
Ethical issuesThe amendments proposed by his bill, however, raise several ethical questions, says bioethics professor Bryn Williams-Jones, director of the department of social and preventive medicine at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal.
Unlike fingerprints, which are already taken more widely, but which are "individual", DNA is "familial", he points out. "If my father or grandfather was recorded, but I was not involved in anything, this data is still there?" he asks by way of example.
According to Claude Carignan, however, his bill provides several mechanisms to protect the personal information of contributors to the NDDB.
Moreover, the Supreme Court has already considered the constitutionality of the DNA sampling of offenders and ruled that the quality of the information offered takes precedence over the invasion of the privacy of the offenders, he recalls.
The honourable senator is hopeful that his bill will make its way through the Senate by the time we break next summer. After this step, a Member will then have to sponsor it so that it can be formally passed in the House of Commons.
While few Senate bills are passed in the House of Commons, this was the case for another project led by Claude Carignan,
on the protection of journalistic sources.
Presented in the wake of revelations about the surveillance by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal and the Sûreté du Québec of several journalists in Quebec, including columnist Patrick Lagacé of La Presse, this latest legislation was unanimously adopted by the House of Commons in October 2017.
