There's been a lot of media coverage in recent months of some very high-profile cases. I'm not going to describe them or elaborate on them, but these are cases in which the judge has expressly written into his judgment that a person would have received a much harsher sentence or deserves a harsher sentence, but we had this special report—I'm sorry, I forget the name of it—so this person gets a lighter sentence because he's Black or because he's aboriginal.
That, I think, rubs the vast majority of Canadians the wrong way and creates, again, conflict and division between people, because there's this sense of unfairness and favouritism.
We have to remember as well that long before the Gladue decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, which was in respect of special sentencing considerations for aboriginals, judges have always had discretion to take note of the accused person and if they had a horrible childhood, abusive alcoholic parents or a horrible youth and didn't have opportunities or guidance, etc.
The judge already had and still has the jurisdiction to take that into account. In my view, it was a mistake, though well intentioned. Everybody has good intentions. I don't question that, but to say we need special sentencing considerations for aboriginals is not necessary; it's divisive. That special consideration was already in place long before Gladue or the current policies.