Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, good afternoon.
My name is Joanne Jong, and I am the daughter of a law-abiding 88-year-old man who was cowardly murdered. That makes me a victim of the worst possible crime.
Had it not been for the brave actions of Kevin Vickers during last week's ordeal, your loved ones might have become part of this less than enviable club as well. Fortunately, neither you nor they have to experience what I did, but last week's tragedy no doubt brings home to you what the families of murder victims must go through.
Parliament passed the Charter of Rights and Freedoms—which I also refer to ironically as the charter of criminals' rights—and it has been in effect for some time now.
So I am delighted that lawmakers finally understood the importance of creating a Canadian Victims Bill of Rights in order to restore balance to Canada's justice system. For law-abiding citizens who fell victim to criminal acts, like myself, the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights has been a long time coming. Finally, it is becoming a reality.
Looking at the world through my victim's lens, I cannot help but notice that the definition given for the word victim in clause 2, on page 2, is the same as that found in clause 45, on page 39:
an individual who has suffered physical or emotional harm, property damage or economic loss as the result of the commission or alleged commission of an offence.
But a very different definition of the word victim appears in clause 3, on pages 8 to 9, in the part setting out the amendments to the Criminal Code. As a victim, I'd like a single definition of the term victim to apply to the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights in its entirety, the one that appears on pages 8 to 9.
If we apply the definition of victim on page 2 of the bill to last week's events, the term victim would include the friends and families of the terrorists, as well as 35 million Canadians, subtracting, obviously, the 90 individuals who became radicalized. Clearly, all of them suffered consequences of the two murders, but that does not make them all victims.
Conversely, the definition of victim used for the purposes of the Criminal Code, on pages 8 to 9 of the bill, is much more specific and fair to victims of crime:
a person against whom an offence has been committed, or is alleged to have been committed, who has suffered, or is alleged to have suffered, physical or emotional harm, property damage or economic loss as a result of the commission or alleged commission of the offence....
By that definition, the only people who would be considered victims of last week's tragedy would be the loved ones of the members of the military who were killed.
I'm also pleased to see that the victims bill of rights duly addresses restitution to victims of crime. If criminals want to be seen as having paid their debt to society, making restitution to victims for the damage they have caused is a decisive step in that direction. Personally, I would go even further. I would make it mandatory for the criminal to satisfy a restitution order before they could be considered for parole.
In clause 29, on page 25, the bill of rights states that the amount of the damages must be readily ascertainable. The families of individuals who have been murdered or assaulted, or had crimes committed against their person, experience significant harm and suffering, and those effects are difficult to quantify. I recommend creating a table that quantifies suffering, like the ones insurance companies use in the case of death or bodily injury. Such a table would make it easier to put a figure on these very real and present damages.
Our justice system already makes use of this kind of tool. Just consider the Child Support Table Look-up, a tool that enables the justice system to run much more smoothly.
I would also like the bill of rights to impose the requirement that criminals work during their incarceration in order to satisfy the restitution order. Such a requirement should take precedence over any other rehabilitation or training program. Law-abiding citizens have to work to take care of their responsibilities, so why should criminals not have to do the same?
That said, I see the introduction of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights as a vital step towards making Canada's justice system fairer to us, the victims of crime.
Nothing can prepare you for stepping into the unfortunate shoes of a victim, unlike criminals, who willingly committed deliberate, planned and destructive acts against law-abiding citizens. Suddenly, we become victims at their hands, a fate we in no way deserve.
Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss such an important matter and for giving me the opportunity to express my views on the bill, which is crucial to making the justice system fairer.