Thank you for inviting us.
It is CAEFS' position that the proposed new legislation is not only unnecessary, because all the behaviours the government professes to be addressing with this omnibus bill are already addressed by the current Criminal Code and are in effect, but we're not fooled by the sorts of smoke and mirror approaches aimed at creating a public impression that the government is responding to public need when in fact they are creating or perpetuating a false impression that there's a need for such repetitive or more harsh laws. The measures being proposed are unnecessary and a waste of hard-working taxpayers' money to use public and government time and resources to develop new laws when the moneys could be better spent on services that will benefit all Canadians.
We don't accept yet more focus on longer and more punitive sentences at the expense of public education, health care, and social services. The government must stop using prisons as a substitute for mental health services, public housing, or shelters for women escaping violence.
We object to the government misleading the public as part of what the Prime Minister has described as a game of politics.
I would like Ms. Pate to address something that we're very concerned about, and that is the detention conditions and how the dangerous offender provisions might affect women.