Thank you, Ms. Boivin, for your comments, which I sincerely appreciate.
You are raising some points that I touched on during my 10-minute presentation. I wonder whether judges aren't already using their discretion to take into account the fact that the victim is a senior.
I am troubled by the fact that so few cases ever make it to court. When you examine the case law, something I did two or three years ago, you find very little there.
One probable solution lies in educating all of the stakeholders in the justice network about what it means to work with seniors. That was what I recommended earlier when I said that police officers needed to learn how to work with seniors with respect to gathering evidence. That recommendation also applies to crown prosecutors, defence counsel and judges.
Will this amendment do a lot more? It may in the few cases that actually lead to a conviction. My overriding concern is that this bill targets only a minority of the situations out there, when the focus should really be on prevention.
So, while I would never oppose Bill C-36, I would urge Canada's parliamentarians to continue considering all the other steps in the process, particularly those focusing on prevention and better support and assistance.
On my end, I am working on a research project aimed at identifying better police practices with respect to seniors, because everything goes back to that. If the police don't go about gathering evidence in the right way from the outset, the case will never result in a conviction.