I think it's well established in terms of the Criminal Code's approach to sentencing that the fundamental principles require courts to consider denunciation, deterrence, rehabilitation, etc., pretty clearly. There is much research out there from over the years that talks about the different impacts that penalties may have, including whether mandatory minimum penalties have a particular deterrent effect versus incapacitation and all of that. I guess it would be difficult to say that in the short term, based on, for example, reforms enacted since Bill C-10 in the last three years, and to point and say, “Here's a direct causal relationship between this and that.”
It's not to say, though, that there hasn't been a noticeable impact by even the sentencing reforms from Bill C-10. For example, if we look at some of the cases, I have remarked upon the fact that Parliament was in the course of reviewing proposed amendments to treat these cases more seriously and noting very clearly the courts saying that Parliament has said that we should treat these offences much more seriously and more seriously denounce and deter these offences. To the extent that we can point to this in the short term, I think there is some evidence of that in some of the case law.