Yes, thank you, sir. I have just a couple of things.
One is that I don't think Bill C-9 in any way takes away from the opportunity for a judge to customize, to engage in judicial discretion, or to be flexible. Judges are wonderful triers of fact. They do a great job of that, and all Canadians are grateful, but I think they have lost sight in terms of proportionality. That's why we need Bill C-9.
If we look at the purposes and principles of sentencing in section 718--mine is from 2006, so I hope I'm up to date; I have to get up with the Canadian Bar Association here--it says:
(a) to denounce unlawful conduct; (b) to deter the offender and other persons from committing offences; (c) to separate offenders from society, where necessary; (d) to assist in rehabilitating offenders; (e) to provide reparations for harm done to victims or to the community; and (f) to promote a sense of responsibility in offenders, and acknowledgment of the harm done to victims and to the community.
Staying at home and hanging out doesn't do that. It's as simple as that. It's not imprisonment. We can't change that; that's what it's called. It is not imprisonment, yet now, because of Regina v. Proulx, it has become the accepted replacement for imprisonment, and it's inappropriate for the vast majority of offenders who get it.
I didn't bring a laundry list of disasters gone wrong in the criminal justice system. I saw that the minister did that at his appearance. I could have brought a list of 200 cases of disasters and lives ruined, souls destroyed, families broken, dreams that will never be reached. The principle of proportionality is not appropriate for so many of those offenders.
Thank you.