Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I apologize for being late. There was a decision being made in Toronto about whether or not the plane was going to take off. It was late. I went up and said, “If I don't go, do I get two for one for my ticket?” They said, “No.” So I came anyway.
The Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers is very grateful for the opportunity to come and assist you. We've been coming now for about 17 years. We see our role really not as one to take sides in one way or another, but to look at proposed legislation and offer our assistance as to whether indeed there's a gap that this legislation fills, whether or not we can offer guidance on possible changes, and even in some circumstances suggest that the bill may not be necessary.
In this particular case, our position is simply this. We recognize that there is a problem with organized crime in Canada, as throughout the world, but we want to be very cautious about the labelling of criminal organizations. It's almost in the infancy of the definition that was passed a number of years ago. There's only one really significant case—I think it's Bonner out of Ontario—where a criminal organization is defined in the jurisprudence. So we're really sort of in a developing stage, in our respectful submission, and therefore we would just ask you to be cautious when you add on sections of the Criminal Code that import the criminal organization aspect. What it does, in our respectful submission, is to make the proceedings, the offence, much more complex.
Let me just say this. I would respectfully submit to you and to my colleagues to my right, whom I respect, and to those out in the field doing the work, that to denote murder as first-degree murder in association with a criminal organization does nothing. Murder is murder. First-degree murder is first-degree murder. What it does, however, in our respectful submission, is it contributes to a clogging of really trying to make the criminal justice system work a lot smoother. So is there a gap in the legislation? Does it add anything? We would respectfully urge you to consider whether indeed it does.
Certain comments may be made for political purposes. That's your job. You bring in legislation and that's why you're elected to Parliament to do it. But is there a need? Is something really being proposed that fills a gap? In our respectful submission, this isn't happening with the designation of first-degree murder in association with a criminal organization or for the benefit of. We have deemed first-degree murder with the murder of a police officer, for instance. You don't need to worry about the definition of that. We accept that. That is in the Criminal Code. But when you bring this in, you're now sort of opening up challenges and complexity in terms of this case, and it doesn't benefit the criminal justice system at the end of the day if it's not sort of filling a gap. We would say that in the first instance.
Secondly, another section talks about mandatory minimum sentences for certain new offences. Is there a gap that necessarily needs to be filled by some of the new offences suggested in Bill C-14? We would respectfully submit to you that there isn't. We keep adding on to the Criminal Code when we're trying to figure out what certain sections mean. But the police have the tools, in my respectful submission, to charge people with offences involving firearms. If a statement is going to be made in terms of mandatory minimums, and new offences created, is it filling a gap in the long term, or indeed is it just to give a message? We ask you to consider that.
We, as defence counsel in this country, plead with you to restrict the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences. In my respectful submission, what it does is send the wrong message to the judges. Judges treat these offences seriously. Denunciation is very prominent in our communities when guns and violence are involved, and judges need the discretion, in my respectful submission, to be able to fit the appropriate sentence to the appropriate crime and the offender.
Another section of Bill C-14 relates to increased use of the section 810 peace bond sections and increased recognizance. It was interesting to read the minister's comments when this bill was introduced. He talked about giving judges an opportunity to fashion terms of recognizance so the process wasn't a cookie cutter. Those were his words. In my respectful submission, that's inherently contradictory to having mandatory minimums.
We believe, and we experience it on a daily basis, that the courts in this country treat serious criminal offences seriously, treat crimes of violence seriously. I think that Parliament has done a job, and the police are doing a job, in together trying to bring the message that serious criminal activity will be prosecuted and treated seriously, and that is what's happening.
If you wouldn't mind, I will just analogize for a second.
Our forces are at war in Afghanistan. We're not just at war; we don't just have combat troops there. The whole thrust throughout the world, and the thrust of the Canadian military, is that we have to build and support democratic institutions to give those people the sense that the al-Qaeda way, if I can use that phrase, is not the way they want to live. To take it into combatting criminal activity, what we need to do is not only put this much energy into new offences, but also put considerable energy into policing, into investigation, and into community involvement, because people who associate with gangs, whether they are criminal organizations within the definition or just organizations, don't belong. They're abnormal. They don't fit. They have a different culture.
Why is that? It is because they find it is more attractive to their lifestyle. We're not going to stamp it out. What we need to do is put a lot of energy into trying to demonstrate, trying to integrate, and trying to educate.
I'm not saying pampering. I'm not saying that.
I live in Toronto, and not far from where I live is an area in Toronto that has lots of crime problems. The other night I was driving home with my children and my wife, and we saw three police officers walking down the street in this community. My son said, “That's really cool.” I'm sure it costs a lot of money to have three police officers there, but that presence in the community sends a message.
If I decide I want to be part of a gang, I am not worried about a minimum sentence. I don't stop to think about whether it's mandatory. I don't stop to think about whether or not these acts are going to get me first-degree.... I don't even think in those terms. I am looking for immediate gratification.
There are people who belong to these gangs who find their self-worth there. I'm not saying not to punish these gangs, but if we punish them and give them credibility by targeting them, then I don't think we're solving anything.
These pieces of legislation are being introduced piecemeal. We suggest that piecemeal introduction of criminal legislation is going to blow up the Criminal Code.
We need to look at the entire Criminal Code, but we keep adding on incrementally. If you see, after you study these bills, that there's a need, that there's a gap, that there's something lacking, as opposed to just apparently the immediacy of emotional contagion in the community, then please, you have to pass them. But you have to decide whether there is a gap. You have to decide whether there is a need. And you have to decide what the impact is.
Throughout this country--from the Department of Justice in Ottawa through every province, including police forces, the defence, deputy attorneys, and judges--everyone is looking at a better, more efficient criminal justice system in the front end.