Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to our six witnesses for appearing before the committee today.
My questions are for you, Ms. Miville-Dechêne.
First of all, I would like to congratulate you for your document “Prostitution: Time to Take Action”. Anyone who is interested in the subject would do well to read it. In a way, we have no choice. Whether because of Ms. Mourani's bill or because of the decision in the Bedford case, which is going to be upon us soon, we are going to have to deal with it at some stage.
I would really like Bill C-452 to change things but I am not sure that that will be the case in practical terms. I do not think that victims are going to stop being afraid to come forward and that crown prosecutors and defence lawyers are going to stop reaching deals. Even if the intent is for harsher penalties, there is nothing to say that things will work that way.
I am not an expert in this area. After all your work in this area, you are probably a bigger expert than I am. When I read sections 212 and 279 of the Criminal Code, the sections that deal with procuring and human trafficking, I have a little difficulty seeing what makes them different from each other. Perhaps one of you can explain it to me. I find that they look pretty much the same.
In the Bedford case, the Court of Appeal had made its ruling. The Supreme Court is going to render its decision this summer, I think, although it may take another six or seven months, if not more. At that point, all this great work could end up in the recycling and we would be back at square one.
What do you think?