There are a couple of things I want to put to you.
If the provinces are on board, then this will have no impact at all. Quite frankly, if this bill was going to bring in fundamental change, I think you'd be hearing the provinces scream more loudly than they are now. I don't know how much consultation was done, but I think the fact that they've been fairly silent suggests that they don't really see much of a change here from what they have in their own victims bill of rights.
When I was at the ombudsman's office, I met some women in the military who had been sexually assaulted and not treated very well. There have been a lot of media reports around that, not just in the most recent Maclean's, but going back many years, so this is not a new issue. The fact these principles wouldn't apply to people in the military justice system I think is very problematic, and hopefully can be addressed in this bill, but if not, then something should be done quite quickly. I understand it operates differently.
With the victim fine surcharge, my understanding what the bill the would do is.... Some judges were giving offenders 100 years, 50 years to pay. I think this bill is intended to limit that. At the ombudsman's office I made the recommendation that it should be mandatory. Having said that, looking back, I wouldn't do that again. I think it has created a situation whereby we're at risk now of losing all the victim surcharge money. The reason I made it was that, as ombudsman, you couldn't tell the provinces to spend more. I don't think they have any intention, for the most part, of spending more, so the only real avenue was to get more money through victim surcharges. I don't think that's going to happen.
My recommendation would be that the government go back to the old system and find a hybrid system that could work and clarify what those exceptions are for people who cannot pay. We're seeing people who can't pay being ordered to pay $700 fines, and it's not working.