Justice committee  I believe the Criminal Code as written can respect the rights of all citizens. I do not believe imposing such restrictions on judges is a good idea. Yes, we live in a democracy, but I am not sure what the catalyst is or what the need is for such legislation when the crime rate

Justice committee  If the judge believes a harsher sentence should be imposed, usually it will not be in a probation order. It will follow a term of imprisonment during which the correctional facility has the ability to impose such conditions.

Justice committee  As I understand it, the Court of Appeal answered that question recently in the case of Mr. Lacroix. He had been sentenced to five years, calculated consecutively. The Court of Appeal refused because he would certainly be entitled to a jury trial. The Charter provides that any off

Justice committee  It was reduced, but in the criminal case, he was sentenced to prison for 13 years. So it was not a very big reduction, after the sentence to five years in prison! Without going into the separate statutes, if someone is liable to imprisonment for five years or more, they are entit

Justice committee  Experience in recent years, following the decisions by the Quebec Court of Appeal, shows that the sentence is higher. The courts are not reluctant to impose sentences of four or five or 13 years. I think that a sentence of two years does not reflect what the courts have decided,

Justice committee  That might happen, but as I said, we are now seeing more severe sentences than what the bill provides for.

Justice committee  It is odd that you would ask me about that section, because I was theamicus curiae to the Supreme Court in R. v. Lavigne, in which the Court considered precisely the possibility of seizing property obtained by crime. In fact it is a possibility, but a civil action and class actio

Justice committee  Thank you very much for the accommodation. I'm sorry, but obviously I thought I was starting at 3:30. To begin with, the Association québécoise des avocats et avocates de la défense would like to thank the committee for this opportunity to talk to you about our concerns regardin

Justice committee  I am before the senate committee on another bill at five o'clock.

Justice committee  You're asking us precisely if we should get rid of the maximum, and I believe Mr. Brodeur answered that question when he was making his representations, in that the average sentence in Canada is nowhere near the maximum. So I don't believe this is an issue. And in 15 years of p

Justice committee  There is just one thing that can be said. First of all, when there are serious offences, as I've already mentioned, there are dispositions in the code for offenders to be controlled, or for long-term offenders. So if that's the issue, it's already there. You say that the judge

Justice committee  We read all the provisions very attentively before coming here, but in fact—and we mentioned this during our presentations—that there will be more instances of preventive detention with this kind of project. This is absolutely certain. The Supreme Court made a decision, in the

Justice committee  Well, you've got my point exactly. I believe this law is not necessary. Judges are giving just sentences, and the appeal process is there for anybody who wants to take it up. If the Crown believes the sentence is not harsh enough, they will appeal, and they do. I don't believe th

Justice committee  If I may, on the same question, I can refer the committee to the submissions of the Quebec Bar Association. The Quebec Bar made submissions on Bill C-9 about restricting jail time to be served within the community. I believe the legislative committee of the Quebec Bar represents

Justice committee  I wanted to answer the first question, because you put it to all the witnesses. If there is a repeat offender and there are serious crimes being committed, the Criminal Code already has provisions regarding dangerous and long-term offenders. So I believe that if the Crown has re