Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for the invitation.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joëlle Roy, president of the Association québécoise des avocats et avocates de la défense, which comprises slightly more than 800 members. Our members are criminal defence lawyers. I have been practising criminal defence law for slightly more than 18 years and therefore appear in court every day. I'm on the ground, I plead, I see things, and I hear things as well.
I know that it's not up to me to ask questions here, but I do have one. And I think it's a fundamental one. Bill C-10 constitutes a major turnaround. It is a combination of a number of bills. Some of those bills were not passed, such as the former Bill C-15, which concerned drug trafficking and possession, and which is coming back into fashion.
Why introduce this bill? We have a judicial system that works. I know that. I practise it and I live it. Why are we introducing minimum sentences? Why are we increasing the minimum sentences that have already been introduced? What is motivating the government to introduce such a draconian bill?
The AQAAD is requesting that Bill C-10 be completely withdrawn because it is irrelevant. It is not supported by statistics or figures. It is utterly pointless. It will have devastating effects on the Canadian public. What I'm hearing this morning is a false debate. The bill is said to be about safety. Look, Canada is an absolutely safe country. If people don't feel safe in Canada, they may have a problem. Of course, the security of communities is indeed a concept that sells well. Our country is very safe.
The victim issue is also a somewhat pernicious argument, but it does sell well.
The minister of justice of New Brunswick talked about sex offenders. They're out there, and they always will be. Do we need such a major reform? We'll never eliminate sexual predation. The point is not to be in favour of or opposed to sexual predation. She says we need tools to assist crown prosecutors. I'm a bit surprised and even stunned to hear that because she forgets that the tool is the Canadian judicial system.
We're there every day. Sentences are rendered. Every situation has to be handled on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, section 718 of the Criminal Code provides for that. What this bill does—and this is what has been going on for a number of years, since this government has been in power—is impose a kind of gag on the Canadian judicial system, nothing more or less. They're gagging the judges, crown counsel and defence attorneys, social workers and probation officers. That's what we're seeing. If someone needs a heavier sentence, if we're dealing with a multiple reoffender, it's the judge's duty to impose that sentence.
In the AQAAD's view, repression pure and simple does not work. Rehabilitation works. Quebec is a province that has always relied on rehabilitation, and it works. Rehabilitation aims for the long term. What kind of society do we want in the long term? We want a just society where we feel safe, but we won't get there through repression. Enacting large numbers of minimum sentences is tantamount to totalitarianism. The case-by-case approach, the offender, is being forgotten. The offender has indeed committed an offence, but will receive a sentence as a result. That's something.
Bringing victims into this debate distorts the debate, even though the intention is good. Taking care of victims is one thing, but that's not the role of the judicial system. The purpose of the judicial system is to impose a sentence on an individual who must face the law and the principles of law. That individual will receive a sentence for the crime he has committed. Victims, of course, may be heard and the impact on the victim will be taken into account, and so on. We can't do more than that. The point is to punish an individual under the law and the rules of law. We must not falsify the debate or lead it into inappropriate areas.
Thank you.