Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here today, Justice Major.
My name is Kerry-Lynne Findlay, and I'm a member of Parliament from British Columbia.
When Mr. Wilks, who proposed this private member's bill, gave a speech in second reading, he stated that it was always his intention that this would apply to kidnapping by a stranger. In that there was some discussion here on this issue of parental or familial abduction, or I should say, kidnapping. I wanted to bring to your attention to the fact that we, as government, have an amendment we are bringing forward to exempt parents, guardians, and persons having the lawful care or charge of the child from the application of this mandatory minimum sentence. We're suggesting this precisely for the reasons you have talked about, in that those circumstances are quite different from those of a stranger taking a child.
Would that amendment make sense to you?