Thank you. Mr. Lauzon. It's nice to see you here before the committee.
You mentioned white-collar crime. The victims of Earl Jones were constituents of mine, and he operated in my constituency so I know the impact that white-collar crime can have. Parents of friends of mine were defrauded, and a high school classmate of mine led the charge for the victims of Earl Jones. I introduced him to the lawyer who then helped him get money back from the government because the tax money that the government had was taxes paid on fictitious income. So I know all about that.
I agree with you that white-collar crime is a serious crime. I would say it's a non-violent, violent crime because it's technically a non-violent crime yet it causes violence to people and some people, as you say, commit suicide and commit violence to themselves. So it's a very special kind of crime. I think it's in a category of its own in some ways.
I think you brought up some interesting analogies between somebody who lives outside prison who hasn't paid their child support, and somebody in prison who hasn't paid their child support. For example, someone on the outside would get their driver's licence revoked, but presumably the inmate is not driving so that's not going to be a form of recourse.
I know it wouldn't necessarily be practical all the time, but if an inmate has received an award and has some child support or spousal support obligations, is it possible for the family to take the same action that they might take if the person were living outside the prison system and take that person to court? I wouldn't imagine that inmates are shielded from those kinds of legal actions, or maybe they are, I don't know.
I see your analogy with the driver's licence but when you're talking about other methods that people use with deadbeat dads who are not inmates, can these people take the same measures toward a deadbeat dad who's an inmate? Can they take that inmate to some kind of court to get payment?