Bill C-83 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act

This enactment amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to, among other things,
(a) eliminate the use of administrative segregation and disciplinary segregation;
(b) authorize the Commissioner to designate a penitentiary or an area in a penitentiary as a structured intervention unit for the confinement of inmates who cannot be maintained in the mainstream inmate population for security or other reasons;
(c) provide less invasive alternatives to physical body cavity searches;
(d) affirm that the Correctional Service of Canada has the obligation to support the autonomy and clinical independence of registered health care professionals;
(e) provide that the Correctional Service of Canada has the obligation to provide inmates with access to patient advocacy services;
(f) provide that the Correctional Service of Canada has an obligation to consider systemic and background factors unique to Indigenous offenders in all decision-making; and
(g) improve victims’ access to audio recordings of parole hearings.
This enactment also amends the English version of a provision of the Criminal Records Act.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Once again, we see a pattern of division and blame-shifting, even from the deepest backbenches of the Liberal government, rather than taking responsibility and rectifying the problems that they themselves have created.

The majority Liberal government paved the way for the transfer of Mr. Bernardo by passing Bill C‑83 back in the day, which was supported only by the Liberals and disgraced Liberal Raj Grewal. This bill prioritized the “least restrictive environment” for prisoners, effectively reversing a policy established by the previous Conservative government that imposed a tougher standard on dangerous offenders. This reversal was cited by Correctional Service Canada to justify Bernardo's transfer.

Now, months after this shocking transfer, the government continues to let down the families of victims and the communities forever scarred by Bernardo's crimes. Despite our new public safety minister, we are witnessing the same kind of refusal to use legal authority to direct Correctional Service Canada to ensure that every mass murderer serves their time in a maximum-security facility.

With a level of ineffectiveness that ministers can deem appropriate, the former minister of public safety issued a directive to Correctional Service Canada. Unfortunately, he missed the point. He missed it entirely. The directive covered only the way victims are notified about transfers and their classifications, not a reversal, which is what should have been done with this transfer.

Conservatives will not stand idly by and let this injustice persist. That is why we've introduced the legislation that has been mentioned, which mandates that multiple murderers and dangerous offenders like Bernardo serve their entire sentences behind the walls of a maximum-security prison. We will bring justice and safety back to our communities.

On the issue of public safety, we have seen a government that has admitted its failure to protect Canadians from foreign interference, and we witnessed the replacement of, arguably, an unfit public safety minister with a new one, who seems to follow the orders of his predecessor. Yet, Mr. Bernardo remains in minimum security, outside of where he should be, and violent crime continues to rise in our streets.

To those Canadians who are watching today, Conservatives know that this situation is unacceptable, and we have the desire to do something about it. Victims' rights should never come second to those of dangerous and violent offenders. We must take a stand and rectify the mistakes of the Liberal government. Mr. Bernardo's transfer should never have occurred and it should not stand. He belongs in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life.

To prevent further transfers like this and to ensure that victims' rights are upheld, Conservatives have introduced Mr. Baldinelli's private member's bill, Bill C-342. This legislation would permanently assign a maximum-security classification to multiple murderers and court-ordered dangerous offenders. It will repeal the Liberals' “least restrictive environment” standard and restore the language of “necessary restrictions” that the previous Conservative government had in place.

Mr. Chair, it's about time.

We call on the minister to issue a directive today and reverse the transfer of Mr. Bernardo. We will continue to champion the rights of victims, and a common-sense Conservative government will bring about safer streets and prioritize victims' rights by reversing this flawed legislation. We will ensure that people like Paul Bernardo remain where they belong.

My colleagues and I have a commitment to justice, public safety and the rights of victims. We will fight to ensure that our communities are safe, that justice is served and that the voices of victims and their families are heard.

If colleagues across the way are not able to ensure this, or Liberal ministers aren't able to ensure this, it will become the work of this committee to do that. It's not simply passing on a responsibility. The duty lies with us, and I ask you to consider the magnitude of our responsibility today and do what's right. Let's reverse this transfer and ensure that it never happens again.

Thank you.

Public Safety

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, there is a common theme among Liberal responses. After eight years of the Liberals being in government, they say it is not their job. That is what the member opposite is saying here. The reality is the buck stops with the government. It and Parliament write the directives and rules under which these decisions are made.

Now, five years since Terri-Lynne McClintic, the families of Paul Bernardo's victims have been revictimized because the government put forward legislation to put mass murderers in the least restrictive environment and refused to issue a directive to ensure that mass murderers stay in maximum-security prisons.

I will ask again. Does the member opposite agree, can she just say she agrees, that mass murderers should stay in maximum-security prisons, and that the provisions around a least restrictive environment the Liberals put forward and voted on in Bill C-83, as they apply to mass murderers and child killers, be repealed?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Speaker, in 2018, the House was seized with a very emotive and serious issue. This was the transfer of Terri-Lynne McClintic, a child killer, from a maximum-security prison to a much less secure facility, a healing lodge. I remember the debate in the House and reading the stories of how the families of the victim were retraumatized through this decision. That was five years ago.

Before the summer constituency break, we had a very similar debate in the House. This was when it was revealed that a mass murderer, mass child killer Paul Bernardo, had been transferred from a maximum-security prison to a less secure facility.

Five years passed. I do not understand why the government did not make changes to ensure that this type of revictimization of families in the most serious crimes did not happen again. How did it happen again?

The former minister, Ralph Goodale, who was overseeing the McClintic file, failed upwards into an ambassadorial position. In fact, the Liberals, in 2018, actually amended the Criminal Code to require that inmates are held in the “least restrictive environment possible.”

It has been five years. Out of respect for victims and families, I would like to see some unanimity in this place on two things. First, the government should acknowledge that this is not appropriate. I would like the government to say that mass murderers should stay in maximum-security prisons. I would like to hear this from the member who is responding to this question, that the government agrees with that principle. Second, very importantly, the government should agree to rescind the amendment that they made in the former bill, Bill C-83, and say that the “least restrictive environment” should not apply to mass murderers and child killers like Paul Bernardo and Terri-Lynne McClintic.

The other thing that I would like the member who is replying to this question to say is whether the Prime Minister has agreed to issue a directive to require all mass murderers to remain in maximum security for their entire sentence. That should be done so that this does not happen again, so that we are not having this discussion and revictimizing families again.

This should be a principle that every person in this House agrees to, and it is the government's job. The government has the responsibility and the capacity to do this. The buck stops with the government.

Those are the three things I would like to hear: that mass murderers should remain in maximum security prisons for the duration of their sentence; that the government will repeal the “least restrictive environment” provision that it put forward and passed; and that the government will issue a directive to require all mass murderers to remain in maximum security for the entirety of their sentence, so that we do not have another family of a victim of a child killer or mass murderer being revictimized.

Criminal Code

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, even if the Liberals give us an inch when we need miles of reform on public safety, it is very important that we move forward with the small pittance they are providing us in this bill.

However, Bill C-48 is not bail reform, which is what premiers, police forces, provincial justice ministers and civic leaders are all asking for. They are not asking for tweaks on the margins; they are asking for broad bail reform. What the Liberals are proposing today is not that.

I will draw the minister's attention to the fact that there has been a consistent Liberal government theme over the last number of years of going soft on criminals. It is not just Bill C-75 that made it easy to get bail. Bill C-5 removed mandatory minimums for violent gun offences and permitted more house arrest for rapists. Bill C-83 allowed mass murderers, like Paul Bernardo, to be transferred to medium-security prisons.

This is a theme, a perspective that the Liberals bring to the table, which has resulted in more violent crime, and that will not be solved by a measly seven-page bill, Bill C-48.

Public Safety

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the only thing the Prime Minister has done is free Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security penitentiary into relative freedom in a place where he can have access to other people and where he has more comforts and can put guards in danger.

The Prime Minister interfered with Corrections Canada's decisions by introducing Bill C-83, which allowed this kind of transfer to go ahead. The Minister of Public Safety knew of the transfer, or his office knew at least, for three months while he claimed that they could not walk down the hallway and tell him.

He is incompetent. Will the Prime Minister fire him, yes or no?

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the unacceptable transfer of Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security prison was possible because of the changes this government made in connection with Bill C-83. The government has all the powers it needs to reverse that decision.

The Minister of Public Safety has proven his incompetence time and again. Will the Prime Minister finally take responsibility, clean up his own mess and fire the minister?

Motion No. 17

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order arising from question period.

During question period, the Liberal justice minister and several members of the Liberal Party claimed that the Conservatives were spreading misinformation about Bill C-83. I have a document from the Library of Parliament, containing a description of Bill C-83, which says that under their amendments, the Correctional Service of Canada must provide the least restrictive conditions for offenders.

I seek leave to table this document in this House.

Public Safety

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, it was this government that introduced into Bill C-83 section 28, which states that all offenders must be placed in the least restrictive environment for them.

That is why, yesterday, the member for Niagara Falls asked the House to adopt a unanimous motion to repeal this portion of the section and ensure that offenders such as serial rapists are placed in an environment that contains the necessary restrictions. That is simple. We could have taken action.

Yesterday, the Liberals refused. Why?

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Madam Speaker, Paul Bernardo is the worst type of human being who can exist, yet over and over again, Liberal ministers stand on their feet to defend his right to the comforts of medium-security prisons.

The minister may not understand, but it is the Liberals' very own Bill C-83 and its change to section 28 of the act that allowed this serial rapist and murderer to be transferred to easy street. This is not something that just happened. The Liberals made it happen. Yesterday, the government would not support a Conservative bill that would fix this by requiring serial killers to stay in maximum-security prisons.

When will the government take public safety seriously, reverse these ridiculous changes and keep notorious—

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Madam Speaker, it is categorically false to say that. Bill C-83, which was aimed at ending solitary confinement, a practice that had been condemned by human rights groups and was found to be against our charter, was replaced by something called structured intervention units to allow for a more direct and equitable form of intervention in those cases.

The link between Bill C-83 and the decision made by Correctional Service Canada to transfer this known killer is misinformation.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Liberal bill, Bill C-83, allowed rapist and killer Paul Bernardo to be moved from a maximum-security to a medium-security prison.

Under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the Minister of Public Safety has the power to send him back to where he belongs, but he refuses to do so. His office knew about the transfer for months, but the minister chose to remain blissfully ignorant.

Why will he not take responsibility and resign?

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Madam Speaker, the Minister of Public Safety's failure to prevent the transfer of notorious killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security facility was not a mistake. It was a direct consequence of the Liberals' soft-on-crime policies, like Bill C-83.

Yesterday, Conservatives gave the government an opportunity to rectify this injustice, but it voted us down. Canadians are watching. The Minister of Public Safety needs to be held accountable for this travesty.

Will the Prime Minister have the courage to sack the incompetent minister, or will the minister do us all a favour and resign already?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Madam Speaker, Bill C‑83 has nothing to do with the current situation and it has nothing to do with the correctional service's unfortunate decision regarding Mr. Bernardo.

Bill C-83 is a response to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling and to what we have heard from other experts, which is that solitary confinement violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We have created another type of structured intervention to address the problem.

I can say that Bill C-83 has nothing to do with the current situation.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Madam Speaker, Bill C‑83 is the latest in a series of errors, questionable decisions, backtracking and contradictions we have seen from this government when it comes to protecting victims. This time, the families of Bernardo's victims are suffering a second time because the government has allowed this dangerous criminal to enjoy less strict conditions.

Can the government reverse its decision and support our proposal from yesterday to keep dangerous criminals in maximum-security prisons?

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Madam Speaker, for three days now, we have been calling for the Minister of Public Safety to resign. He is still in office. For three days now, we have been asking the Prime Minister to answer our questions. He has not. He does not have the guts to explain to the families of Bernardo's victims why he created conditions that allowed Bernardo to be transferred to a medium-security prison. Bill C-83 allowed that to happen.

Is the government sorry for what it did?