Thank you, Ms. Pate.
So minimizing the number of victims means strengthening the social fabric through investments in education, health and social services. The way to achieve accountability is not necessarily by imposing a sum of $100 or $200, but rather by applying remedies and ensuring better rehabilitation.
In your opening statement, you said—and your words stayed with me—that a judge's discretion should not be taken away as regards the surcharge. You said it would do more harm than good and would be overly punitive in cases where extreme poverty and mental illness are present. In fact, you said that 91% of aboriginal women in prison and some 80% of women in prison overall had themselves been victims and were not able to access adequate health care or mental health services.