Thank you.
Thank you very much for having me here, honourable members. It's great to be in front of this committee again and to be on this panel with these esteemed persons.
The John Howard Society of Canada has a long history of appearing in front of this committee. As some of you will know, my predecessor, Graham Stewart, made two or three dozen appearances here over his long tenure, and I always open these deliberations by saying that I'm not Graham Stewart. So please beat your expectations to the ground and we'll get on with it.
We are Canada's oldest voluntary sector and non-governmental charitable organization committed to safer communities and reduced reoffending through pro-social reintegration of prisoners at the end of their sentences. Our mission statement calls us to have “effective, just and humane responses to the causes and consequences of crime”. Bill C-15 fails on all three tests. I'll return to that in a moment.
The John Howard Society of Canada believes that criminal justice policy, precisely because it is a defining feature of Canadian civilization, ought to be the concern of all democratic citizens, not just their elected leaders. It is the obligation of NGOs like the John Howard Society of Canada to ensure that governments of all kinds adhere to the values of being effective, just, and humane in accordance with the principles of fundamental law and consistent with the best evidence on what works to create a safer society, where crime is managed according to the best available research in the scientific literature.
The John Howard Society of Canada is not soft on crime or tough on crime; the John Howard Society of Canada endorses policies and practices that are smart on crime.
I'm going to go directly to my recommendations, because you will have read at least some of these briefs, and you'll know that we share a perception that Bill C-15 is flawed across the board.
I have four recommendations.
First, as Bill C-15 targets crimes arising from business transactions related to illicit drugs, but misunderstands the nature of these transactions, the John Howard Society of Canada, in keeping with our values and principles of effective, just, and humane criminal justice policy and practice, calls on the Government of Canada to launch a royal commission to investigate and make recommendations on the best way to respond to violent crimes arising from illicit drug business transactions. The commission should call witnesses of international stature. It should, in its recommendations, be driven by peer-reviewed evidence, which I'm happy to share with you, and comparative historical experience with drug prohibition, the crimes that arise from drug transactions under conditions of prohibition, and the resulting legislative responses. All deliberations and reports should be published in full.
Second, the John Howard Society of Canada calls on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to commission a panel of independent experts to conduct an evidence-based evaluation of international experience with mandatory and minimum practices to evaluate (a) their effectiveness with respect to violent crimes arising from drug prohibition business transactions; (b) their agreement with principles of fundamental justice and human rights; (c) their concordance with principles of proportionate sentencing; (d) the potential for exacerbating reoffending by persons subjected to mandatory and minimum sentences; and (e) the public health implications for exacerbating the conditions of drug-addicted offenders and the families and communities to which they return. All deliberations and analyses should be published in full.
Third, in keeping with the government's commitment to accountability in public spending, the John Howard Society of Canada calls on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to commission the Parliamentary Budget Officer to expedite a cost-benefit analysis of the fiscal implications for provincial justice, including legal aid and correctional systems, of the effects of mandatory and minimum sentences in Bill C-15, and to publish this analysis in full.
Last, in keeping with the government's commitment to accountability in public spending, the John Howard Society of Canada urges the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to amend Bill C-15 to mandate a cost-benefit analysis, by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, of the projected crime reduction outcomes of mandatory sentences, as envisioned by Bill C-15, no later than 2012, and to publish this evaluation in full.
Thank you. I look forward to taking your questions.