Thank you for the question.
One of the arguments we put forward in Anderson, which I think is important to remember, is that the law itself has been used as a tool to oppress people of African descent, and particularly African Nova Scotians, for centuries. This is obviously a complex problem that resides not only in justice, but we do need a justice response, because in part this is a justice problem.
When Minister Lametti visited Nova Scotia, we talked primarily about the work being done with impact of race and culture assessments. Those are connected to this debate, because by allowing more community-based sentences, we can actually allow some of that work that gets at root causes to take place. An impact of race and culture assessment looks at the historical context of that specific community and at how the reason the person came to be before the court is connected to some of those systemic factors. It then presents rehabilitative options that are culturally appropriate.
By keeping this punitive regime of mandatory minimum penalties, we're taking the discretion away from judges to provide that sort of culturally specific programming that's needed to get at root causes. If the idea is that mandatory minimum penalties somehow send the message that they are going to decrease recidivism, I think that decades of research have shown that this is not the case. We need to get at the root causes to really address the problem. That's the work we're trying to do at the institute.
We also have to recognize that sentencing is at the end of the process, so we need to infuse that throughout the process and look at police discretion and Crown discretion. Those are the sorts of supports—bail supervision programs and reintegration programs—we want to implement at the institute so that people are fully reintegrated in a way that's beneficial to community safety. That's some of the work we're trying to do.
Racism is pervasive in the justice system—I think that's clear—and the response has to be multi-faceted, as I said in my opening statement.