TORIES SHAKE UP JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Say New Director Of Public Prosecutions Will Play 'Politically
Independent' Role

OTTAWA - A new department created to prosecute crimes under scores of
federal laws will handle some 65,000 cases annually, according to
federal briefing documents released to the Star.

And the newly created director of public prosecutions, who heads the
department, will be politically independent and answer only to
Canada's attorney general, says the Conservative government.

The Tories pledged to create the new office in a controversial
election promise during last year's campaign; it quietly became
reality in December with the passage of the Federal Accountability
Act.

The director -- in effect, the country's chief prosecutor -- will be
in charge of nearly 700 employees, and another 850 legal agents
contracted across the country to act in court for the federal Crown.
The office will be responsible for prosecutions under some 50 federal
laws, including drug prosecutions and two new Criminal Code offences
of federal fraud, the documents show.

Although there's been no suggestion that modern-day federal
prosecutions have been subject to political interference, Justice
Minister Rob Nicholson -- also the federal attorney general and the
one government official able to countermand the public prosecutor's
decisions -- said the new legislation will eliminate the very
possibility.

"What we are trying to do, or are in the process of doing, is stay
ahead of the curve, stay ahead of the possibility that prosecutions
could get mixed up with political direction," Nicholson said.

"One of the things to keep in mind is our federal prosecution service
actually worked well in this country," he noted. "It's not a question
that we took a system that was broken and now we are transforming it
into this new system."

The vast majority of criminal prosecutions will continue to be handled
by the provinces, which are responsible for administering the Criminal
Code.

According to a justice department briefing document, the director of
public prosecutions will have the power to make binding and final
decisions to prosecute "unless otherwise instructed by the Attorney
General. To safeguard the Director's independence, however, the act
will require that instructions to the Director from the Attorney
General be in writing and made public in the Canada Gazette."

The public prosecutor would be appointed for a seven-year term, and
have security of tenure, much as a judge or officer of Parliament, and
may be removed only upon a resolution of Parliament. The position
carries the status of a deputy minister still reporting to the
attorney general. The director is required to file an annual report to
Parliament.

Other details to guarantee independence have also been worked
out.

The director of public prosecutions has also been delegated most of
the powers regarding criminal law, including terrorism offences, but
not federal civil litigation responsibilities.

The office will also prosecute Elections Act offences if referred by
the Elections Canada Commissioner.

That potentially could include any elections offences arising from the
sponsorship scandal, Nicholson told the Star.

"I believe it would come under that. It wouldn't be directly in the
department of justice, and probably good reason to have it that way."

But the department of justice will continue to retain direct
responsibility for all extradition and international mutual legal
assistance matters, and will still advise the government on
constitutional matters, and other justice policy issues.

Although it has not yet meant physical relocations into different
buildings, the move to create what amounts to a whole new federal
department is a big one, involving up to one-third of department of
justice employees, according to one document released to the Star
under Access to Information.

Other documents and interviews outline more details that have been
sketchy -- even to Nicholson -- including just how the Conservatives
intend to ensure the office's political independence.

The practicalities of setting up a new federal department have
resulted in a name change -- it will now be called the Public
Prosecution Service of Canada -- to comply with federal Treasury Board
guidelines.

The new department doesn't yet have a website. But there is an acting
director in place -- Brian Saunders, recently assistant director
general of the criminal law branch within the department of justice,
who may remain in the job for up to a year.

The plan to select a director, however, is for the federal attorney
general to form an eight-member selection committee that will include
at least one MP from all major political parties in the Commons, the
deputy ministers of justice and public safety, a representative of the
Federation of Law Societies of Canada, and another person chosen by
the attorney general.

The committee's job will be to vet a list of 10 candidates suggested
by the minister and recommend a shortlist of three.

The minister and Prime Minister would pick the successful candidate.
That person would then appear before a parliamentary committee for
evaluation, much as the most recent Supreme Court appointment, Justice
Marshall Rothstein, was questioned upon his nomination.

In the end, however, the final decision rests with the Prime Minister
and his cabinet.

Another memo indicates it is crucial, despite the federal government's
desire "to speak with one voice," to have a separate communications
staff.

"The government has stressed the independence of (the director) ...
and if the same media relations officer was quoted in stories about
the Department of Justice as well as the Director of Public
Prosecutions, that public perception would be undermined," it says.

What is still unclear is how much it will all cost.

Any references to budget or costs have been blacked out in hundreds of
pages of documents released to the Star. There were warnings, however,
that both departments after the split would have funding gaps
requiring new submissions to Treasury Board.

"The point was to make it as cost-neutral as possible," said
spokesperson Dan Brien. "And a lot of the discussions between
departments have been to ensure it happened that way. That's why
people haven't moved buildings yet, that and other factors like the
expiration of leases."

He said the real cost "is still being worked out."

The documents indicate managers had to address employee anxiety over
the move, but details were also blacked out.

Brien conceded some employees fear "the unknown" and a move out of the
justice department into a "prosecutions" department. Still, in
practical terms, some changes may be little more than erecting walls
or doors in offices.

In Ottawa, most of the prosecutions service headquarters is on the
second floor of a justice department building.

"It's a huge change in the system, because it's created a new
department," said Brien. "But for prosecutors it was and continues to
be business as usual."

Quebec, British Columbia and Nova Scotia all have independent
directors of prosecutions.