Good afternoon.
I've worked for CCJC for 27 years now, after working in prison for 14. I want to tell you, first of all, that CCJC takes very seriously the harm done to children by sexual offences and that we've a long track record of really trying to do everything we can to help break the silence about this in our churches and in our communities.
We have produced, over the years, several different resources that help people in churches talk about it, because we've known that so many victims were suffering in silence and that it was something that was condoned. We take responsibility for how that has affected and been contributed to by our own churches. We have done a lot to help victims find a voice and to help churches be candid and honest with each other and work toward prevention. We want to stop the behaviour and help people heal.
Those are very good goals, and I think those are the goals you have with this legislation too, but we are very concerned about the fact that mandatory minimum sentences, as a tool, are not effective and can do a lot of harm. Our concern is that your proposals cover a lot of different situations for a lot of victims in a lot of different situations and they cover them with the same blunt tool of mandatory minimums.
We know and we've encountered situations where the immediate safety of the victim in the community does require that someone be in prison, and we are absolutely confident that when it's the safest thing to do, it has to be done. But there are so many more where that is not the case. What we're concerned about are the proposals that are going to really make this something that has to be done even when it's not appropriate and that what is already bad for victims in the criminal justice system will become worse. I mean by that the adversarial system and the way that works.
The adversarial court room is not a safe place for victims to find support and tell their story. It's very frightening, especially for children. It makes them feel guilty when they are pushed by defence lawyers who are busy doing their job in our criminal justice system. It's very scary for them, and people who care about particular child victims would do anything not to put them through that. So proceeding in a way that is not going to require a prison sentence for safety but can avoid for the victim the kind of extra suffering is often a good thing to do. It's something we would not want to lose.
The increased penalties are going to raise the stakes in that and are going to make that battle even more so in our courts. Even the victim impact statement is a scary thing for victims, and I'm telling you this from my own direct experience with some victims and from what I've heard from many others who work with victims. Child victims don't want to feel that their entire life is ruined by what has happened. They need to feel that they can still have a good life and that the tools are there to help them do that.
A victim impact statement in an adversarial system really tends to make them stress all the worst things and the terrible prognosis of what's going to happen to them. That's not good for the victim. So for those of us who care about them as people, it makes a lot of sense to try to look at what could be avoided in order to give them what they need to find support but not put them through what is not necessary.
We have found one model that has worked very well and we would really like to recommend that. It's the child abuse teams that some crown attorneys' offices have established in some jurisdictions. In that kind of model, the crown, police, victims' services, children's aid, the parents, and the interviewer of the child—all of the people who have a piece of the puzzle—get together and carefully assess what would be the best way to respond as a criminal justice system in this situation. Then they make a proposal that's put before the judge. Sometimes it includes a sentence of imprisonment, but often it doesn't.
The problem with a mandatory minimum sentence is that it doesn't allow you that flexibility. As other people have told you, it goes against all the research we have. There's no positive reason to do it, and it takes away something that is so key to working more effectively. It also goes against the international trends right now.
So why is the government doing this? Have you found from research that the sentences are too low? I haven't seen anything like that put forward. Have you found that when they were too low crowns didn't appeal when they could have? What is the reason that is pushing you to think this is necessary? I haven't seen any.
The terrible thing is that there will be collateral damage from this. There will be a lot of unintended consequences, because these proposals are designed by people who don't understand how the system really works. I would like you to think very seriously before you move ahead with something that's going to do so much harm.
It appears to have been done to reassure the media and the public, but uninformed people are not the people to rely on to guide you in what you should be doing on something as important as this.
We're not the first country to experience this. I'm going to leave you with a quote by Lord Auld in the U.K., who faced the same situation. He said:
it is one thing to rely on uninformed views of the public as a guide to what may be necessary to engender public confidence, and another to rely on such views as an argument for fashioning the system to meet them. Public confidence is not an end in itself; it is or should be an outcome of a fair and efficient system. The proper approach is to make the system fair and efficient and, if public ignorance stands in the way of public confidence, take steps adequately to demonstrate to the public that it is so.
These proposals will not do that; they will do the opposite. They will make the system worse, and they will reduce public confidence as a result of that.
I make three recommendations. First, there should be no mandatory minimums. At the very least, could you make it presumptive rather than mandatory?
Second, have child abuse teams in more jurisdictions. I would really recommend that you consider this as an important direction to pursue.
Third, couldn't future proposals be more evidence-based? They need to be designed by people who understand how the system really works. You could begin as a government to consult with people who can give you that kind of recommendation so what you do doesn't do more damage.
Thank you.