Justice committee  A community-based sentence like a CSO will be imposed when the judge is of the opinion that a sentence of less than two years is appropriate. What's particularly effective about this sanction is that it can be coupled with mandatory treatment. When a person serves a sentence of i

Justice committee  What I can tell you is that, depending on the circumstances, the offence may be broader in scope. It's up to the court to decide on a penalty appropriate to the circumstances. For these offences, Bill C‑5 maintains the minimum penalties of five years and seven years of imprisonm

Justice committee  In fact, the court, in determining the sentence, will always take the circumstances in which the offence was committed into account. When a crime committed with a firearm endangers public safety, the principles for assessing the penalty and the charge are what the court will use

Justice committee  What I can say is that under Bill C-5, there are certain conditions that would be required for a CSO to be imposed—the first one being a sentence of less than two years—that it respects public safety; that it is consistent with the purpose and principles of sentencing; and that i

Justice committee  We've seen with the enactment in the last 10 years of further restrictions on CSOs a diminishment in their being ordered, because they weren't available for as many cases. In terms of community-based sentences like CSOs, according to Statistics Canada, data shows that in 2019-20,

Justice committee  One of the contributing causes to the opioid crisis is stigmatization. Several studies demonstrate that the overreliance on incarceration is actually associated with an increase in reoffending, and produces particularly negative effects on lower-risk offenders. Moreover, studies

Justice committee  From what I understand, the trends over the last 10 years or so demonstrate that the enactment of these mandatory minimum penalties have contributed to an increase in charter challenges.

Justice committee  According to several studies, the mandatory minimum penalties have different, and negative, effects on racialized communities. Various sources of evidence confirm that denying judges the discretionary power to identify risks with respect to procedural equity means that these peop

Justice committee  If I may, I'd like to answer that question in English so I don't have to stumble over my words. In fact, the government made several investments in budget 2021 and the fall economic statement that supported Gladue writing at sentencing. The same thing goes with respect to the

Justice committee  The nature of any offence is determined by the courts and this offence is very broad in scope. In other words, the crime may have been committed under a variety of circumstances. If a mandatory minimum penalty is applicable, a judge cannot take all the circumstances into conside

Justice committee  Indeed. One of the trends we've seen over the last 10 years is that mandatory minimum penalties have, as the minister said, increased the number of successful charter challenges, reduced the number of guilty pleas, which often require victims to testify more often in certain case

Justice committee  What I can say about record-keeping is that the purpose of the section is to allow police officers to keep records of warnings and referrals so as to avoid confusion and ensure consistent application of the provisions. These records are inadmissible per the bill. It's indicated t

Justice committee  That's a very complex question, because the reasons are complex. In fact they go beyond the scope of Bill C‑5. According to our data, some offenders, including indigenous people, Black people and people from marginal communities, are overrepresented for certain offences, includi

Justice committee  There are currently 67 offences in the Criminal Code that are punishable by a mandatory minimum penalty. Of those, 13 related to firearms will be repealed by this bill. One of them will be repealed in relation to a tobacco-related offence, so that would be 67 minus the 14 in the

Justice committee  As of March 30, 2022, the Department of Justice was tracking 245 charter challenges to MMPs. This represents 35% of all charter challenges to the Criminal Code that are being tracked by the department. There are 27 challenges to MMPs for firearm offences, seven at the appellate