Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I would like to thank you for the invitation and for your attention to our presentation.
The Association des policières et policiers provinciaux du Québec represents more than 5,200 unionized police officers in Quebec. We feel that the amendments to the Youth Criminal Justice Act will result in greater protection for the public from crimes of violence.
We must stress the importance of focusing on violent offences. As police officers, we feel that it is our responsibility, when we are investigating serious crimes committed by young people, to gather enough evidence so that the judge can order detention where appropriate.
The bill seeks to amend the act by reducing the burden of proof, which will help us in our job of getting repeat violent offenders off the streets.
Because of the new requirements that Bill C-4 will bring with it, additional financial and staffing resources must be provided.
The establishment of a central registry will assist police forces like the Sûreté du Québec in our work. Information must be standardized in order for coordination to be better.
Adult penalties must be considered only in cases of violent crimes.
Police forces firmly support the possibility of lifting publication bans. Young people must not be able to commit other violent crimes. They may end up in areas where public protection is important.
For example, a neighbourhood may find a sexual offender living there. The public interest must be protected, and, by so doing, more crimes, repeat offences, can be prevented. Young offenders must be made aware that they have committed serious crimes; we feel that the amendments to the bill will right the wrongs done to victims who for too long have been ignored.
Young people do not have the same level of development as an adult; they are impressionable; they can be influenced. The amendments to the act must make them aware of the gravity of their actions.
As police officers, our primary role is to protect society and we must have the tools we need to carry out that role. Young people who commit serious crimes must answer for their actions when warranted by the circumstances of the offence.
Some of our investigations into serious crimes committed by young people compel us to feel that they must be made aware of the seriousness of their actions. Releasing them, often too soon, does not serve the interests of the community, a community that deserves to be able to live in safety.
Young offenders must be discouraged from offending again. We are of the opinion that the current act has shortcomings and that amendments are warranted. We support the idea that protecting society must be made the main goal of the act. Without amendments, the act does not meet the objective of living safely in our society and would not match our expectations and our values.
Some young people will not hesitate to resort to violence and intimidation for criminal purposes; in our opinion, this poses a major threat to Canadian society. Some young people, although they may not have the developmental level of an adult, will be driven to commit serious crimes; whatever the nature of those crimes, the amendments to the act must convince them not to reoffend.
As investigators, we must not be deprived of the tools that allow us to have access to the various provisions of the Criminal Code that we could use in the course of our inquiries.
With the passage of time, we believe that there is a way to develop regulations governing serious crimes committed by young people. This will allow the police and prosecutors at various levels to use the provisions in the Criminal Code to their full extent in order to reduce the threat to public safety.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.