When I read it, it does not seem clear to me. It reads:
That Bill C-299, in clause 1, be amended by replacing line 10 on page 1 with the following: imprisonment for life and, unless the person who commits the offence is a parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of the person referred to in that paragraph, to a minimum
You may tell me that the questions going through my mind are stupid, but, how can a person kidnap someone for whom they have the lawful care or charge?
A whole bunch of questions occur to me. They are questions that I would have loved to ask various people with expertise in the area, and perhaps others too, with no disrespect to the people from the Department of Justice who work with the government on projects like this. It just seems that we are moving a little quickly.
If this was the intention, and if the sponsor of the bill, or the government, had a question about what is in Bill C-299, it seems to me that it would have been better to ask it beforehand, so that all the members of this committee, who have to vote on Bill C-299, can do so with full knowledge of the matter. This is not like a store changing an advertising flyer; we are getting ready to amend an important section of the Criminal Code.
Why are we making this distinction? If we are saying that such a person can commit the offence under section 279, why would that person not receive the same minimum sentence? Why is the government singling out a person who is a parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of the person referred to in one of these paragraphs? Why should a person like that have the right to avoid the minimum sentence when others do not? In the case law, we have seen, for example, a mother who has just lost a child being completely distraught and taking off with another small child. If she is deemed to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong, to the extent that she is not considered not criminally responsible, she could therefore be subject to the minimum sentence.
These are the kinds of questions that occur to us. I am sure that this proposed amendment is well intentioned, but I am not sure that we have really weighed the advantages and disadvantages to see if it stands up, if it is robust.
I do not know if the people from the Department of Justice have analyzed this amendment. Perhaps they could give us some guidance; perhaps they could explain what it means and how it fits into the bill and into the provision that section 279 would then become. Perhaps they could tell us why the distinction is being made between these categories of people. Couldn't brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts be included too, in a way?
All these questions occur to me not only because this is new legislation compared to the second reading in Parliament, but also because of the way the committee has spent the time allotted to us for the study of this bill.