Yukon government to study seizing crime proceeds

The Yukon's MLAs want the territorial government to consider giving itself the power to seize the proceeds of crime, which are currently seized by the RCMP.

MLAs have unanimously passed a motion, presented by Yukon Party MLA John Edzerza, which calls on the government to be able to seize property and goods — such as cars, real estate and cash — bought with money that is obtained by illegal activity such as drug trafficking.

"With this kind of legislation in place, I think it would probably be the best deterrent that one can establish to force those individuals to think twice about wanting to set up in the Yukon," Edzerza said in the legislature on Wednesday.

The RCMP is currently the only agency that can seize the proceeds of crime in the Yukon, but Justice Minister Marian Horne said it would make sense for the territorial government to start doing so too.

"I think that forfeiture laws would allow us to make drug dealing and bootlegging even less profitable by allowing the government to seize the proceeds of illegal activity," she said.

Horne added that it would also be easier for the government to seize property than it would be for the police, which have to use criminal laws that require a higher standard of proof.

By comparison, Horne said the government would not need as much evidence to seize property through civil cases.

Opposition Liberal MLAs like Darius Elias supported Edzerza's motion, but Elias pointed out that the Yukon does not have all the legal powers of a province and therefore may have to work out an arrangement with the federal government.