Sure. Thanks very much.
My name is Tiffani Murray, and I am with the collaborative justice program. It's a restorative justice program here at the Ottawa courthouse. I'm also a lawyer.
The program has been in operation since 1998, and as one of the witnesses stated, it works on principles of restorative justice, which have been given paramountcy in the Criminal Code. We have seen that conditional sentences have benefited all the participants of our programs--offenders, victims, and the community.
We've been through our cases, compared them to the proposed legislation in Bill C-9 and the offences that would be affected by the removal of conditional sentences, and we've come up with a figure of 94% for cases that would be affected. In those cases, what I'm saying to you is that the victims would be affected as well.
Those cases would not be permitted to have a conditional sentence. They are cases where we've worked with the offender, the victim, the families, and the community in order to come to a resolution, which has included a recommendation presented to the judge, the Crown, and the defence to allow a conditional sentence that also allows restitution for the victim.
For example, it can be some meaningful community service, having the offender contribute to an organization that has personal meaning for the victim, or having the offender contribute a donation to a charitable foundation that has personal meaning for the victim. It can include having the offender do work in the community. All of this gives a great deal of control back to the victim and allows the offender to take responsibility.
None of this would have been possible had the offender been given a period of incarceration or, in 94% of our cases, had the conditional sentence option been removed.
We're talking about cases that include fraud over, theft over, or even impaired driving causing bodily harm. These are cases in which the victim and the community have benefited.