I was very pleased to introduce that bill. As you pointed out, I was pleased to join with the Prime Minister in meeting with a number of victims, as you remember, of course, as you yourself were there that day.
I think this brings forward some needed changes to the whole area. We made it very clear that we're coming up with, among other things, a high-risk category that will be determined by the courts. We're talking about a relatively small number of violent individuals, or individuals who have been involved with very violent activities. Again, this in no way compromises their rights or their abilities to get treatment for what they suffer from, but that being said, we want to make sure that people maintain confidence in the system and that we properly take victims into consideration.
With that legislation, one of the components that you will see is that we'll do a better job of informing victims as to what's happening, in giving the board the ability to set parameters, when the time comes, if and when an individual is released, so that the victims are better able to know what's happening and better able to cope with the situation.
If you have a look at the legislation we have brought forward, this has been a consistent theme of what we've done, taking into consideration who the victims are, how good a job we're doing representing their interests. You'll remember the bill on white-collar crime. We made it a little more user friendly in terms of victims making an application for restitution. This was in no way an attempt to take over provincial jurisdiction with respect to lawsuits that can arise from transactions that have gone very wrong in this area. We're not saying that. We're saying that victims need one more way to access the system and try to get some justice.
What we're doing in the not criminally responsible reform act with respect to victims, what we do in the various pieces of legislation that we have brought forward, is consistent with that theme, to make sure that victims and their concerns are at the forefront of our criminal justice system, or in the system of the not criminally responsible, to make sure that their interests are looked after. We owe that to them. Again, those are the individuals I meet with on a regular basis across this country. They're consistent in the sense that they like the direction we are going in, and they encourage our continuing along this route. This is one more step in that direction.