Well, I could certainly regale you with numerous cases that have now been dealt with in the courts. Almost all of them, except for a very few, are first-time offences, which makes sense since this is a very recent legislative initiative.
In terms of whether those cases or those sentences are having an impact, it's very difficult to say, because we don't have a long history on this offence. It's been in place only since 2002.
I do know that the sentences typically range from six months to two years, and I would say that there's a significant degree of consistency in the sentencing. At times, for example, if there's a two-year sentence.... We have at least one instance where that was a conditional sentence because the offender was already in the middle of a treatment program in the community rather than within the prison system.
What we want to do is provide the judges with the tools to be able to express society's denunciation more effectively. We also want to provide them with the tools to remove these individuals from society.
I went back and reviewed the comments that members of the opposition as well as government members made at second reading. I noted, at least from your party, Mr. Ménard, that the chief objection to this bill was the fact that Bill C-9 would have been triggered. And as you know, Bill C-9 is no longer in play.