That's it. If you want to see a caution, this is it: give me your drugs; I'm taking you home, and I'm now going to write down, “Don't do that again.”
I'll tell you that it broke my heart. I knew these kids were about to be mules. That's what happened. We had a trend of adult criminals taking vulnerable kids off the street and saying to them, “I'll give you $50 if you go into Safeway and steal a tube of toothpaste.” The poor vulnerable child, who may not have eaten for two days, does exactly that and gets $50, which is an enormous amount of money for these children.
Then this criminal would tell this child, “It's $50 if you come with me into that house; we're going to steal a tube of toothpaste.” That would happen. Then it would be, “It's $50 more if you go by yourself. It's $100 if you deliver this package.” Now the kid is a drug dealer.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, every time I was catching this kid with drugs, there was no punishment. There was no deterrence for that youth. There was nothing. It convinced many of these youths to proceed. My heart was breaking for them, but we continued to do our part, as police officers do, because we were the enforcers.
I have to turn to Sébastien's Law. I recently was in court with neighbours from my childhood. Their son was murdered. Their son was murdered by a 17-year-old. Two months after being charged with the offence, he was released on bail, and at the age of 18 he proceeded to almost stab someone else to death.
I ask you, Minister, what would have happened to that 17-year-old accused if Sébastien's Law had been in place at that time. What would have happened if it was a youth who had a previous criminal record and who had now allegedly murdered another person? Would he have been out in two months, or would the strict bail conditions you're proposing have potentially saved the next person, who almost died, from being injured?