Mr. Minister, you make reference in your speech to restorative justice. I wanted to note that the justice minister of Saskatchewan has expressed concern about the impact of Bill C-9 on the unique justice programs that have emerged to bridge the gap between aboriginal peoples and non-aboriginal peoples. A specific example of this is the Hollow Water First Nation project in Manitoba. There communities are dealing with extremely serious issues, such as the sexual abuse of children, through court-supervised restorative justice programs. It is very important work that seems to me to have proven its worth.
These are not soft options; these are very determined actions by communities to deal with a horrendous social problem, and they have proven successful, but they depend on that conditional-sentencing capacity of the judge. Have you done any thinking about whether Bill C-9 will negatively affect the capacity of the justice system to work with aboriginal communities to produce these kinds of restorative justice programs that seem to address very serious offences in ways that seem to me--and seem to everybody--to be superior to simple incarceration? Is there some risk that Bill C-9 will simply throw people into jail when there are community solutions that can better deal with the problem?
I have some concern, to widen the frame slightly, that in your concern about judicial discretion you may be doing much more harm than good. This might be an example in which good programs are going to be harmed by your concern, in some cases righteous, about the use of conditional sentencing that is not appropriate; here might be a case in which it really is appropriate, and you might be doing some danger.