Justice committee  First of all, my belief is--and this is from somebody who was convicted and who served a life sentence, and continues to serve a life sentence--my sentence is going to be forever. If the risk is such that the person shouldn't be reintegrated into the community, they stay in pri

Justice committee  That's a journey that.... I can't speak on behalf of victims. That's a journey that they take. I've appeared at conferences. I was at a workshop with a great number of victims. It was in Toronto. It was sponsored by the National Parole Board. Your colleague has brought up that

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  That's when you can begin the application. I was under a different set of rules, but it was about 16 years by the time I got to go to court. I went through the court process, and then I could start applying to the parole board.

Justice committee  It was about 16 years.

Justice committee  Oh, I'm sorry. It was about nine months. We had to get court space. We had to get a judge that was available. We had to get a crown attorney. I had to find a lawyer, and then a jury had to be empanelled. There was a preliminary hearing and then the process itself.

Justice committee  No.

Justice committee  I was successful at having my parole eligibility reduced to 15, but I'd already had 16 in at that point. I could then apply to the National Parole Board, but before I could do that, I had to have more psychological assessments and another psychiatric assessment, and there were ot

Justice committee  It took another three or four months before I got in front of the National Parole Board. Then I was granted unescorted passes to a halfway house, so that process took another year.

Justice committee  I had over 17 years in by the time I got my full parole.

Justice committee  Yes. In fact, there are men I go to the parole board with now. I've been to the parole board, in my capacity as an in-reach worker, at probably close to 300 parole hearings, and I've never seen anybody get out at their date.

Justice committee  I believe there's the possibility of that taking place. I've been working with LifeLine, going back into prisons, and I'm in my 13th year of going back inside. Many of the men I work with hold that faint hope clause as something to work towards. Most of the men and women, when th

Justice committee  My belief is that people should be returned to their community, earn the right to be returned to the community, when they've completed their rehabilitation. They're no longer considered a risk to the community. If somebody's considered a risk, then they shouldn't be returned to t

Justice committee  That's right.

Justice committee  Thank you. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to speak today. I'm here to put a face on who this legislation, the faint hope clause, applies to. Over the past 30 years I've been a prisoner. I've worked with young offenders in the community after going through the faint hope