Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
As Mr. Paisana mentioned, my name is Jody Berkes. I join you today from the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Métis nation. This land is covered by the Dish With One Spoon treaty.
If there is one message that the CBA has for the committee, it is this: Bill C-5 is not soft on crime. If and when Bill C-5 is proclaimed in force, it will not prohibit any judge from sending a single violent offender to jail. On the other hand, it will allow non-violent offenders who deserve a second chance an alternative to incarceration.
Mandatory minimum sentences have contributed to overcrowding in prisons, an over-incarceration of marginalized communities and increases in court delays as people litigate matters when they are guilty, instead of resolving them. Additionally, mandatory minimum sentences have distorted the principles of sentencing. The fundamental principles of sentencing from the common law are now codified in section 718.1 of the Criminal Code. Those principles are that “A sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender.”
As a result of mandatory minimum sentences, instead of a sentence tailored to the seriousness of the offence and the record of the offender, we have a one-size-fits-all approach of jail for everyone, regardless of their circumstances. Allowing non-violent offenders to serve sentences in the community allows offenders to work to support their families, receive treatment for the addictions that caused their offending and give back to the community they harmed through restorative justice measures.
On the other hand, mandatory minimum sentences simply warehouse people until they can be released, often with diminished life skills and prospects for employment, and untreated for the problems that caused them to offend in the first place.
My colleague Mr. Paisana has spoken about the changes to the conditional sentence regime in Bill C-5, but the short answer is if an offence carries a mandatory minimum sentence, it is ineligible for a conditional sentence. As a result, without eliminating mandatory minimum sentences, the other aspects of this bill are useless.
Bill C-5 represents the first step in recognizing the harmful effects of mandatory minimum sentences. The CBA supports the repeal of all mandatory minimum sentences, except for murder. There is no harm prevented by mandatory minimum sentences but a lot of harm caused by them.
We look forward to answering the committee's questions.