Point of order. I suggest that you gently remind the witness that, in mid-May, you submitted a report to this committee, and in that report, we were asked to consider Ms. Smith's bill on June 1.
To say, in front of television cameras, that the committee spent time on this matter is not an accurate reflection of the truth. Mr. Storseth's motion was deferred so that yours could be heard first. I just wanted to set the record straight in terms of the sequence of events.
That being said, Mr. Chair, I voted in the House—as did the Bloc Québécois—in favour of Bill C-49, which the Liberals introduced and which does not include any minimum sentences. The Bloc Québécois is consistent in its actions. We do not support minimum sentences. I would like you to submit to this committee studies showing that minimum sentences are effective.
I will ask both you and the Department of Justice whether it is true that, to date, there have been only two convictions under section 279 of the Criminal Code. The opinion that sentences are not severe enough needs to be qualified. In fact, this section did not get much use. Perhaps they were not severe enough, but in those cases, an appeal should be filed. That is not a justification for minimum sentences.
Out of respect for the work you have done, on Tuesday, I will propose a motion asking the government to suspend all consideration of the bill. We will immediately try to take a balanced look at the briefs you submitted. We are talking about 15,000 victims of human trafficking in Canada, that is 2,000 people a year. I am a lot more worried by the fact that out of those 15,000 trafficking cases in Canada, there were only two convictions.
As parliamentarians, we will try to not play politics, but to understand why there were only two convictions. We will propose a motion to suspend all other consideration of the bill.
How do you explain the fact that there were only two trials and two convictions? That question is also for your colleague from the Department of Justice.