Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
Ms. O'Sullivan, you may have heard that when we last considered this bill we heard from the parents of a victim. It was very moving testimony about a victim who was abused over a long period of time. The victim found the courage to bring that offender to justice. After a few months of incarceration he was allowed to return to his home, which was right across the street from her. Every day, she saw him. Every day, her parents saw him.
For me, and I think for others on this committee, the testimony we heard really brought home the issue of how the offence impacted not only the victim herself but also other members of the family, and how there's this healing process that the victim, the family, and others in the neighbourhood have to go through after an offence like this is committed.
What do you think of the argument that we hear from some people, as we heard from Mr. Easter and others, that the system works okay most of the time? How many people does it really impact? If it's not a large number of people that this legislation is going to help by making it an absolute requirement for the court to consider the impact on the victim of the location of the offender, then why bother?
From the victims who you speak to, what's your view of that argument?