NDP justice critic Claudia Chender is calling on the Liberal government to follow the RCMP’s lead and make a simple change to the Police Act that would extend the time limit for people to file a police complaint.
Chender tabled a bill at the legislature on Thursday proposing to extend the statute of limitations from six months to a year, which the RCMP already follows.
“There’s a clear legislative gap,” said Chender. “The legislation hasn’t got up to where we need it to be. We want to make it as simple and as clear as possible so the government can take action as quickly as possible.”
Her bill comes on the heels of a highly publicized case involving Halifax resident Carrie Low who’s fighting the province’s Police Complaints Commissioner’s refusal to investigate her complaint against the Halifax Regional Police’s handling of her sexual assault case. The Police Complaints Commissioner refused to investigate because the complaint was filed after the six month period.
Low, whose case is before the courts, said she wasn’t mentally prepared to make the complaint within the six-month period and believes the deadline ought to be extended to 12 months. Chender agrees with Low’s argument that victims of trauma should be allowed more time to file a police complaint.
“When you’re dealing with people and communities that experience trauma it can sometimes take some time to launch a complaint,” said Chender. “It might not be immediately that you’re ready to do that.”
Chender isn’t the first to make such a recommendation. Scot Wortley called for the same deadline extension in his report on street checks that was submitted to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission earlier this year. Halifax Regional Municipality’s Board of Police Commissioners also voted to make the same recommendation at its last meeting.
Justice Minister Mark Furey said Chender’s bill contains a reasonable ask and that department lawyers are examining the possibility. He also said the Police Complaints Commissioner made the same recommendation but Furey stopped short of saying whether he’d make a decision on the matter by the end of the fall sitting.
“We want to avoid any unintended consequences and can we mitigate those if they’re created? said Furey.
“Obviously it’s important that you look at both the pros and cons but the arguments are very appropriate.”
Furey would not elaborate on what might be some unintended consequences of extending the police complaint deadline.
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