Thank you, Mr. Chair.
MADD Canada is the only national anti-impaired driving organization in the country to provide services to victims and survivors of impaired driving. When conditional sentencing provisions were first enacted in 1996, families were outraged and felt revictimized by the imposition of house arrest for someone who took the life of their loved one.
Losing someone in an impaired driving crash is extremely difficult to deal with because it is something that is totally preventable and because these deaths are not seen to be as serious as other criminal deaths like homicide. In 2007, the federal government enacted Bill C-9, which narrowed the categories and excluded impaired driving causing death. MADD Canada and our volunteers—many of them have lived experience—worked hard to eliminate conditional sentences for impaired driving causing death.
People we support suffer from PTSD, depression and anxiety. Many feel sentences for impaired driving causing death do not reflect the harm that has been caused. For families, the intent and motivation of the offender is not significant. In recent years, courts have recognized the need for stricter sentences for impaired driving causing death, but we believe to allow for the possibility of conditional sentences in these cases, which are entirely preventable acts, suggests they are not a serious crime.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.