Justice committee  As Ms. Barnes mentioned, the reality is that although the Gladue decision came from the Supreme Court of Canada, it is not being acted upon across the country. We know that. I get calls every day from lawyers who have never heard of the decision, and I get calls from clients who

Justice committee  Thank you. I'd be happy to answer that. There are three Gladue courts in Toronto. They are courts that are specifically designed to work with aboriginal people. They deal specifically with bail and sentencing. They are the only three Gladue courts in Canada, so there are no oth

Justice committee  I can't conceive of, and I don't think anyone here can conceive of, all the situations and all the individuals who come before them. Those of you who have practised law or have been in courts will have seen, on occasion, a case for which jail makes no sense. It's a rare case, but

Justice committee  I certainly can actually speak to three of those specific examples. It's not to say, of course, that everyone who commits offences should receive a conditional sentence; we're not suggesting that conditional sentences are appropriate for everyone. What this bill does is remove th

Justice committee  The difficulty with the short prison sentences is that you cannot access any programming. If you want to accomplish something, if you want someone to get to a treatment program, you need to give them time for that to happen. So you do need four, five, or six months. A client who

Justice committee  Yes, thank you for the question. As we mentioned, a number of hybrid offences carry with them, if prosecuted by indictment, sentences of over ten years. So what happens now is the crown elects whether they'll proceed summarily or by indictment. If Bill C-9 were to be passed, th

Justice committee  I'm not aware of any studies that have been conducted to address that issue.

Justice committee  We are very active, as Marisha pointed out, in making recommendations and suggestions to judges for sentences. For many of the clients we work with, because of their criminal records, there is no way a judge would ordinarily release them. So what are very common conditional sente

Justice committee  We have five specific but linked concerns with the proposed bill, and we will address each one in turn. First, the bill casts too wide a net. If passed, Bill C-9 would include among offences ineligible for conditional sentences robbery and break and enter into a dwelling. While