Justice committee  Thank you. That's a complicated question. Fundamentally, we're against the sort of structure that's being proposed because of the injustices it perpetuates, but you're asking me what sorts of changes I would make within that structure. I would say that, for example, police officers should not be in any way basing their discretion on the number of police contacts that a person has had in the past.

Justice committee  I think that everybody probably knows that the “tough on crime” model has not done anything in this country or in any country to lower crime rates or to keep people safe. I listened intently to Chief Montour talk about the issues that are plaguing his community. I can't speak to the individual or specific issues in that community, but something that did strike me was the comment that serious drug trafficking has gotten worse and violent crime has gotten worse.

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. I think that from your perspective.... I heard one of the members in a previous discussion with Ms. Shanmuganathan say that mandatory minimums serve a purpose for Parliament in expressing a denunciation or a revulsion to certain crimes. I suppose on a theoretical level it certainly has that effect and it has that use.

Justice committee  In many different ways I guess the failure to keep those records is going to have an impact just in terms of being able to track how that discretion is used. The simple solution to this—I was slightly encouraged, I guess, to hear Minister Lametti express that it is something they are looking into—is to decriminalize all simple possession offences.

Justice committee  Yes. Thanks for the question. Practically speaking, when a person comes into contact with the criminal justice system for, let's say, simple possession, one of the things that a police officer may do, and most often will do, is check their police records to see how many contacts that person has had with the police.

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. A conditional sentence has a very practical effect in the sense that, if you have an offender who is being sentenced, the conditional sentence has the ability to combine more rehabilitative components that enable a person, once they have finished their sentence, to actually not go back to a criminal lifestyle.

Justice committee  Hi, everyone. It's nice to be back here before the committee on behalf of the CLA. I also have some experience appearing before this committee when a lot of the mandatory minimum sentences in a previous government were introduced, as well as restrictions to the conditional sentence regime.