Pubdate: Fri, 05 Oct 2012
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2012 The Edmonton Journal
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Tobi Cohen
Page: A11

PROSECUTORS BUSY LAST YEAR

OTTAWA - The lion's share of Federal Court cases last year were
handled by Ontario and British Columbia where drug, organized crime,
terrorism, human smuggling and environmental protection crimes kept
prosecutors busy, new figures suggest.

According to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada's annual report
released last week, federal prosecutors handled 78,698 files in
2011-2012, more than 48,000 of which were new while the remainder were
carried over from previous years.

Of them, 58,972 - about three-quarters - involved charges under the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Prosecutors also handled more
than 9,000 cases involving economic offences, more than 8,500
involving environmental protection offences, 479 immigration cases and
227 cases related to census violations.

This year's report, unlike previous ones, also offered a glimpse of
federal court activity by region.

Prosecutors at the Ontario and National Capital Region offices, the
latter of which also handles Western Quebec, dealt with 33,898 cases
last year.

Besides prosecuting drug offenders, who are often members of organized
crime groups, "principal cases" involved terrorist groups, human
smugglers and tax evaders.

Meanwhile, nearly 13,000 cases were handled by B.C. prosecutors. Two
particular projects "aimed at identifying marijuana grow operations"
in Northern B.C. and on Vancouver Island in partnership with the RCMP
allowed prosecutors to move forward on some 60 cases. Some involved
more than 8,000 plants valued at more than $4 million, according to
the report.

Another important case involved the prosecution of Russell Porisky who
earned more than $1 million offering lessons on tax evasion.

"He was convicted in relation to both his personal income evasion and
for counselling others to evade the payment of taxes," said the report.

"A number of the students who applied the teachings were convicted of
tax evasion themselves and sentenced to jail terms."

Alberta prosecutors dealt with a number of "complex" drug, organized
crime and proceeds of crime cases, while Saskatchewan saw a
"significant increase" in organized crime and drug cases, the report
found.

In Quebec, some 59 per cent of the region's 2,184 files last year were
described as "megacases or cases of high complexity" involving
"high-profile" organized crime, money laundering, terrorism, tax
evasion, fraud and border security cases.

Unlike the rest of the country where drug cases continue to occupy the
bulk of prosecutors' time, in the territories, most cases involve
Criminal Code offences including murders, attempted murders and
spousal assault. In the Northwest Territories alone, 17 per cent of
files had to do with domestic violence, the report found.

According to the report, "addiction-motivated crime" remains a
problem.

Drug prosecutions that were once "relatively straightforward," are
also being held up as accused are increasingly filing motions
questioning the constitutionality of legislation, something critics of
the Conservative government's toughon-crime agenda have warned about.

"High-complexity drug cases" represented just 2.24 per cent of the
drug caseload, however, they took up more than a third of the
litigation time.

At a time when the Conservatives have come under fire for gutting
various environmental and wildlife protection legislation, this year's
report also shed some light on crimes committed under various
environmental laws, particularly the Fisheries Act.

According to the report, 8,588 files last year dealt with offences
under the Fisheries Act, while 157 cases dealt with other
environmental legislation.

Last year's report suggests there were just 2,189 fisheries-related
files.

With a number of new measures now at the government's disposal to
combat citizenship and immigration fraud, this year's report also
highlighted some of the successes in this area.

For example, the report cites the case of Ahmad El-Akhal and Hussam
Saif who faced 70 charges for selling "addresses of convenience" in
Ontario to people living in Jordan who wanted Canadian citizenship or
to renew their permanent resident card without fulfilling the
residency requirement.

[sidebar]

FEDERAL PROSECUTIONS IN 2011- 2012 BY THE NUMBERS:

By region:

Alberta: 6,573 cases Atlantic: breakdown unavailable

B.C.: 12,918 cases

Manitoba: 3,227 cases

National Capital Region: 9,439 cases

Northwest Territories: 3,984 cases

Nunavut: 3,143 cases

Ontario: 24,459 cases

Quebec: 2,184 cases

Saskatchewan: 3,708 cases

Yukon: 3,424 charges

By offence:

Drugs: 58,972, 24,353 carried over from previous years

Proceeds of crime/property offences: 1,803, 1,175 carried over from
previous years

Regulatory and economic offences: 9,348, 4,248 carried over from
previous years

Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act offences: 243

Canadian Labour Code offences: 132, 72 carried over from last previous
years

Census offences: 227 files, 16 of which relate to the 2011
census

Citizenship and immigration offences: 479, 185 of which were carried
over from previous years

Competition law: 70 cases

Environment and fisheries offences: 8,588 under the fisheries act,
3,988 of which were carried over from previous years; 157 under other
acts, 65 of which were carried over

Revenue offences: 518 prosecutions concluded, $3 million in fines
collected
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MAP posted-by: Matt