Thank you.
I have a question for either Ms. Barr-Telford or Mr. Grimes. Your statistics do not take into account what lawyers refer to as plea bargaining where Crown attorneys manage to have notices of a previous conviction excluded. In many cases, notices of previous convictions should be a factor, but the system is skewed because people are unaware that they have been excluded. The information is on record, but the Crown attorney has it excluded in order to negotiate a lighter sentence with the defence lawyers. That information should be disclosed, because reviewing case files one at a time is an arduous job.
I would now like to talk about aggravated assault. Quebec's Attorney General has instructed that a term of imprisonment automatically be ordered in cases involving spousal assault. There is something odd about your statistics. They always include terms of imprisonment in cases of spousal violence, whereas a suspended sentence could have been an option.
Your statistics detract from the real goal. I'm not saying that for cases of aggravated assault, we should do away with...The statistics for Quebec show that in cases of spousal assault, most men are sentenced to a term of imprisonment. If Bill C-9 were different, men and women would be equal in the eyes of the law. Currently, that is not the case.
I would now like to discuss what happens when parole conditions are violated. You know how it works. A person receives two years' probation. For part of that time, he is under 24-hour supervision, for another part, under supervision during specific hours of the day, and so on. Probation officers are required to work with a land line telephone. With today's methods of communication, a probation officer can call a parolee at 3 a.m., but that person may have arranged to have his calls forwarded to another telephone at another location where he is dealing drugs. It's impossible to keep the parolee under surveillance.
Therefore, to all intents and purposes, probation because like a Club Med vacation where the parolee is free to skirt the rules. The technology exists to allow a probation officer to contact a parolee 24 hours day, but the officer has no way of knowing if the parolee is at home, unless he personally stops by to check on him. Parole officers don't have the time for that, especially not at 3 a.m. Therefore, we have parolees who are violating their parole conditions. Different scenarios are possible, and your statistics do not reflect this reality.