Assemblée législative de l'Ontario

The committee met at 0905 in committee room 1.

INTENDED APPOINTMENTS

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): We’ll call the meeting of the Standing Committee on Government Agencies for April 12 to order. I thank the committee for being here. We only have one item of business this morning, which is interviewing an intended appointee.

MS. SUSAN LEE

Review of intended appointment, selected by third party: Susan Lee, intended appointee as member, Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): We have Ms. Susan Lee. She is being recommended as a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. We’ll ask Ms. Lee if she would come forward and take a seat at the end of the table. While she’s coming up, we just point out that as we start the interview, we’ll provide you with an opportunity to, if you wish, make a statement. Upon conclusion of that statement that you make, we will then have 10 minutes per party to ask you questions. With that questioning, we will start again as we did last time, with the third party. We’ll open the floor and ask you to make your presentation. Thank you very much for being here.

Ms. Susan Lee: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for inviting me here today. I’m pleased to have been asked to appear before this committee to have the opportunity to impress upon you my long-standing commitment to providing assistance to victims of crime, and further, to persuade you of my suitability for an appointment as an adjudicator on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

As you probably know, I have worked as a public servant for over 30 years and I have enjoyed much success serving the public good, initially for the federal ministry of the Solicitor General and latterly for the people of Ontario.

The most widely recognized contribution I have made has been improving the lot of victims of violence in the criminal justice process. I believe I bring a unique and valuable perspective to the work of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in that I’m a criminologist. I possess a master’s degree in criminology; I do not have a law degree. I raise this as I believe it is important in understanding my strength in relation to the appointment. As I have not been required to function as either a criminal defence lawyer or a crown attorney, I do not have a stake in either of these roles. My focus has been in shaping government and community responses to the needs of victims of violence. This was done within the confines of the criminal process without infringing on the rights afforded to the accused person.

Achieving an acceptable and accepted structure for the respectful treatment of victims without interfering with the fundamental principles of the criminal law was a formidable task but one that had to be thoroughly addressed. I bring sound theoretical knowledge of the problems victims, face and I have worked with and on behalf of victims. I’ve met with considerable success in this regard and have been officially recognized by the government of Ontario, community groups and the Ministry of the Attorney General.

In addition, I’ve had broad experience in a variety of other complementary roles within the criminal and civil justice systems. Beyond creating new services for victims of violence, my experience in policy and program development as well as operations has allowed me to have extensive contact with the issues facing police organizations, the judiciary of all three levels of court in Ontario, counsel and community interest groups as well as the members of the public, among others.

I clearly understand the practical realities of managing large administrative structures with limited and sometimes diminishing financial resources. I also appreciate the complexities of operating within statutory requirements.

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All of this I believe is relevant and valuable to functioning in the role of an adjudicator. I’m committed to the value of respecting individual interests, carefully weighing information, employing an even-handed and dispassionate approach, as I have learned that applying these qualities will always yield the best possible result.

I work well in collaboration with others. I know how to work hard under pressure and with great accuracy. I have an unusual set of skills which will allow me to make a significant contribution to this important administrative tribunal. Thank you very much.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much for your presentation. As I said, we will start with the third party, and they’ve, at this point at least, decided they don’t want any of their time, so we’ll go to the government side.

Mr. Michael A. Brown: I appreciate your putting your name forward for this important tribunal.

I guess the question I might want to ask is: Do you have real experience in the tribunal kind of setting? There are obviously pretty strict rules, and it looks from your resumé that you know about all of these things. Could you just expand on your experience in that sort of a setting?

Ms. Susan Lee: As a formal member of a tribunal, no, I have not had any experience. I have had experience with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board on behalf of the victims that I’ve worked with in the past, both with individual victims of violence and also from an administrative perspective, in that, in assisting victims throughout the years, we very often worked with the criminal injuries system.

Mr. Michael A. Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Susan Lee: Can I just add something?

Hon. Aileen Carroll, P.C.: Sure.

Ms. Susan Lee: As an adjudicator, I’ve had more experience in a less formal role, in that I’ve managed many, many employees over the years and had to deal with problems that have arisen in the workplace and made decisions about people’s futures in terms of moving them other places, dismissing them, that sort of thing. So in a less formal structure, I have had some adjudicative experience.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. The official opposition: Ms.MacLeod.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thanks very much, Ms. Lee. Great presentation; outstanding qualifications for this position. I want to thank you for coming before us.

I just quickly have one comment, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point it out: Our party, the Ontario PC caucus, has made three recommendations to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, and we think that we should be releasing the victims’ justice fund surplus to victims of hard-working law enforcement agencies, ensuring that the definition the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board uses to determine compensation reflects the needs of victims and ensuring that significant representation on CICB is for victims.

I could ask for your comments, but I just wanted to say that the official opposition supports your candidacy and wishes you the best of luck in the days ahead.

Ms. Susan Lee: Thank you very much.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Thank you very much. If those are all the questions—the third party is not here yet—we thank you—

Interjections.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): I mentioned, as I came in, that this would not be painful. Obviously surgery has gotten to be simpler and simpler as we go along in our society. So we thank you very much for taking the time to come and meet with us this morning.

Ms. Susan Lee: My pleasure. Thank you. That wasn’t painful.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): We do wish you every success in your future endeavours. Thank you very much for coming in.

Ms. Susan Lee: Thank you.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): That concludes our interview this morning, so we would accept a motion to deal with the interview, and we have a motion from Mr. Brown.

Mr. Michael A. Brown: I move concurrence in the appointment of Susan Lee as a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): The committee has heard the motion. Discussion?

Mr. Michael A. Brown: Recorded vote.

Ayes

Albanese, Brown, Carroll, Flynn, Johnson, MacLeod.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): The motion is carried.

Thank you all very much. That concludes the whole process. Never let it be said that government can’t be efficient. Thank you very much for coming in.

There being no further business, unless there is from a member of the committee, we stand adjourned.

The committee adjourned at 0915.

CONTENTS

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Intended appointments A-123

Ms. Susan Lee A-123

STANDING COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Chair / Président

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Ms. Lisa MacLeod (Nepean–Carleton PC)

Mrs. Laura Albanese (York South–Weston / York-Sud–Weston L)

Mr. Michael A. Brown (Algoma–Manitoulin L)

Mrs. Donna H. Cansfield (Etobicoke Centre / Etobicoke-Centre L)

Hon. Aileen Carroll, P.C. (Barrie L)

Mr. Howard Hampton (Kenora–Rainy River ND)

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford PC)

Ms. Lisa MacLeod (Nepean–Carleton PC)

Ms. Leeanna Pendergast (Kitchener–Conestoga L)

Mr. Jim Wilson (Simcoe–Grey PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn (Oakville L)

Mr. Rick Johnson (Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock L)

Clerk / Greffier

Mr. Katch Koch

Staff / Personnel

Mr. Larry Johnston, research officer,
Legislative Research Service