Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members. I just want to start by making some introductory remarks.
As with Mr. Spratt, I practise in a criminal law firm practising exclusively criminal law in Ottawa and surrounding jurisdictions. Really, my comments come from somebody who does have a great deal of confidence in our justice system. I have a great deal of confidence in our judges and the ability of our courts at all levels--be it at the provincial level or the superior court level, appellate and Supreme Court--in dealing effectively with sentencing, and in particular with the principles that Parliament enacted under section 718 of the code.
That's really the starting point for a discussion on sentencing, because what section 718 of the code deals with are the different principles one looks at when sentencing. Deterrence is one of those principles, as well as retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation. With any given set of circumstances or any given set of offences, our courts are left to determine which principles are paramount.
I want to commend to the honourable members an interview of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. I'm certainly able to make that available to any member who's interested. It was an interview with Maclean's magazine from November of last year. I'm sure the honourable members can appreciate that Madam Justice McLachlin doesn't have absolute liberty to talk about how she feels about things, but she was asked quite pointedly by the interviewer in Maclean's whether or not she agrees with the suggestion that courts have been coddling criminals.
The reason I'm referring to this interview and this particular answer is because in my respectful view, what mandatory minimums do--aside from removing discretion--is in removing discretion they're sending a signal that we can't trust our justice system. We can't trust judges to craft appropriate sentences. That's very important, because in my respectful view, it sends the wrong message.
What I would suggest this committee undertake is an exercise in looking at whether there's a problem here that needs to be fixed. Are there offenders guilty of these crimes that are going through a revolving door of justice, as I would submit this suggests? Is there an act of coddling criminals that our sentencing judges are going through? In my respectful view, there is not.
I would commend to the members this interview, where Justice McLachlin says that overall, “You have to realize that judges under the Criminal Code have to take into account not only retribution. In fact, they have to look at rehabilitation. They're directed to.”
She's referring here to section 718 of the code. They have to look at a number of factors in sentencing, and sometimes a perspective from the person who's making a speech about how judges are too soft is simply one of this conduct deserves more retribution.
This really is the heart of the issue. In my respectful view, looking at cases from the court of appeal, we already have a range of sentencing that's been discussed by the court of appeal, by the Supreme Court of Canada. For these types of offences--and I can certainly refer members to these cases--specific deterrence and denunciation are already determined to be paramount principles for these offences, for obvious reasons, which I'm sure everybody is aware of: that everyone has concern about vulnerable victims. These are the paramount principles: specific deterrence and denunciation.
Our appellate courts have time and again reinforced this idea in saying that jail is the norm for these offenders. When you're found guilty of committing these offences, jail is the appropriate sentence.
I know in my review of some of the previous debates on this bill there was concern about conditional sentences being applied. When courts look at whether a conditional sentence is appropriate, they're mandated to look at whether the principles of sentencing can be achieved through a conditional sentence.
My time is up, so I won't go on any more, but thank you for the time. And I'll be happy to refer any materials to the members.