Okay, thank you.
Hello. Bonjour.
My name is Fiona Sampson. I am the director of litigation at LEAF, the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund.
I'm here today to talk to you, I understand, for ten short minutes. I have three important points that I want to make, so I'm going to get right into it.
I want to start by telling you a little bit about LEAF and then move into a summary of the three main reasons why LEAF is opposed to the passing of Bill C-10.
LEAF, the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, is a national non-profit organization that's dedicated to the advancement of women's equality rights in Canada. Primarily, we do that through using section 15 of the charter and the equality guarantees that are included in section 15 of the charter.
Fundamental to our mandate is the understanding, endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada, that section 15 obligates the federal government both to protect the guaranteed rights against discrimination and to equality found in section 15 and to promote those rights.
Moving to the three main reasons why LEAF is opposed to the introduction and passing of Bill C-10, which are actually outlined in submissions we have forwarded to the justice committee, and I understand they probably aren't before you because they haven't been translated yet, but they are something for you to look forward to—they are coming your way—the first reason LEAF is opposed to Bill C-10 is that Bill C-10 does not reduce violence against women. If the point of Bill C-10 is to reduce violence, it doesn't achieve that with respect to women.
Women experience violence because of their unequal social, economic, and political status in Canada, a status that results in their objectification, their disempowerment, their devaluation, all of which results in the status of second-class citizens, which leaves us vulnerable to violence. That's the cause of violence against women. Bill C-10 and mandatory minimum sentences relating to firearms do nothing to reduce that source of violence against women.
Certainly LEAF supports the reduction of violence and the reduction of crime, but what happens with Bill C-10 and with mandatory minimum sentences attached to firearms is that they come too late to be of any real help to women. They're imposed after the fact. They do nothing to prevent violence, and they come at a time when women have already experienced the violence, so they're really of no value.
Definitely women and LEAF recognize the violence that's associated with guns, and we oppose it. There is an intrinsic link between gun violence and masculinity and violence against women, and that's apparent when you just look at the statistics: 85% of guns in Canada are owned by men and 30% of gun victims in Canada are women. That's something that concerns and distresses LEAF, and LEAF supports gun control to address that concern, and we support measures that get guns off the streets. But having mandatory minimum sentences attached to firearms doesn't address that problem.
Our second main point relating to our opposition to Bill C-10 primarily relates to the disadvantage that's associated with Bill C-10 and that we predict will be felt because of the implementation of Bill C-10.
Bill C-10 is a classic example of the failure of the federal government, were it to pass, to actually protect and promote equality rights, the obligation the Supreme Court has found the federal government has under section 15 of the charter.
What really happens with something like Bill C-10 and the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences attached to firearms is that it targets already disadvantaged groups. If I can draw your attention to.... Well, you don't have the submissions yet, but you will soon. The Report of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System found that black people are already overrepresented among prisoners with weapons possession charges, so we know that with the targeting of firearms crimes by attaching mandatory minimums to those crimes in particular, they will affect black persons disproportionately.
They will also affect aboriginal people disproportionately. We already know that aboriginal people are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system and in prisons, so they will be further disadvantaged if Bill C-10 is passed, particularly the section of Bill C-10 that relates to the attachment of mandatory minimums to persons who have committed previous offences. If you go to LEAF's submission, footnote 18, we have a whole list of primary and secondary sources available to you to support that. So the evidence is there.
Sometimes proponents of mandatory minimum sentences understand it to be a form of equality, and on one level it can be understood to be a form of equality. It's what we call formal equality; it applies equally to all persons. Another example of formal equality can be seen in a situation where you have a building, and the building has been designed so it's only accessible by stairs. The architects of that design might say that it's equally accessible to everybody, that anyone can get in, that nobody is prevented. There's no sign that says certain groups are excluded. But if you're in a wheelchair, you're essentially excluded. So it looks like it's available to everybody, but in effect it's not.
With mandatory minimum sentences, it's a similar theory you can apply. It looks as if it's applicable to everybody, and it looks as if it's fair, but actually, in effect, what happens is that because it's targeting individuals who are already predisposed to disadvantage, who are already over-criminalized, it results in further disadvantage and, LEAF would argue, discrimination. So that's a problem.
The other reason it can be understood to be inequitable rather than equitable is the pre-existing racism that we know informs and characterizes the criminal justice system in Canada. Every level of court, royal commission, justice inquiry, independent research, and academic research--we have it all--provides evidence that the criminal justice system in Canada is characterized by racism, and that gets perpetuated by mandatory minimum sentences attached to firearms. So that's another problem, and that's another reason why LEAF is opposed to the introduction of Bill C-10.
Really, the problem with Bill C-10 is that it does nothing to promote or protect equality. It only perpetuates disadvantage and inequality, and it really targets and individualizes the problem, rather than addressing the social causes of the problem.
This is the third point that LEAF would like to make in terms of our opposition to Bill C-10. Really, what LEAF identifies as much more preferable to the punitive measures attached to Bill C-10 are preventative measures and looking at the social causes of violence and crime and firearm crimes, in particular. In particular, what we would support are measures that provide for community development and increased education, increased employment opportunities, and improved community development--programs that would promote opportunities for people who are already disadvantaged.
They're definitely long-term solutions. They're definitely not quick fixes, and they're not easy sells. They don't win votes the same way a quick fix like mandatory minimum sentences attached to firearms might sell votes. But they're really much more effective, they're much more long term, and they actually promote and protect equality for disadvantaged persons. So that's why LEAF supports that approach rather than the approach of punitive measures attached through mandatory minimum sentences.
In closing, I'd just like to read a quote by Helene Dumont. It's from her article in the 2001 Osgoode Hall Law Journal, and it really captures LEAF's position on Bill C-10. This is on the cover of our submission, so you'll get a chance to enjoy it for yourself. Helene Dumont writes:
How can our criminal laws better reflect the public's concern for safety, while promoting their desire for a democratic society based on peace, liberty, tolerance and justice? To accomplish this goal, legislators and the Canadian public as a whole, should try to apply more reason than fear in developing criminal law-infrastructure for safety. They must recognize the symbolic and political power of criminal laws, and determine the effectiveness of each punitive measure in terms of securing personal and public safety. Finally, legislators must always choose the solutions that will result in a peaceful, free, tolerant, and just society.
So subject to any questions you might have, those are our submissions.