Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to address this committee on behalf of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
The CACP applauds the government's effort to modernize Canadian legislation to help address the disproportionate representation of indigenous and racialized communities in Canada's justice system. As stated in our July 2020 report, we support the decriminalization of simple possession of illicit drugs as an effective way to reduce the public health and public safety harms associated with substance use.
While there is support to divert substance users away from the criminal justice system, police across the country have maintained the pursuit of individuals associated with organized crime and criminal networks making large profits trafficking and producing dangerous illicit drugs. Currently under the CDSA, mandatory minimum sentences apply only to serious drug trafficking, production and import/export offences from which public safety is at risk. The use of mandatory minimum sentences is considered when there are aggravating health and safety factors, such as for offences involving the use of a weapon or threat of violence and production operations that constitute a potential security, health or safety hazard to persons under the age of 18. We believe the use of aggravating factors applied to mandatory minimum sentences allows police and the court system to focus on those driven by monetary gains who are putting communities in harm's way, rather than those who commit drug offences to support their drug use.
Therefore, diversion is an important theme of our submission today. Diversion means ensuring that the unique circumstances of a specific offence and offender are considered by a judge when determining an appropriate sentence. It means distinguishing between vulnerable people committing minor offences who need to be oriented towards pathways of care and criminals committing serious offences. Diversion also provides opportunities to reduce recidivism and ancillary crimes.
It's important to note that for diversion at the police or court level to be successful, there must be an investment in community capacity and resources to support the availability and integration of health and social programs. The basic principles of this modernized approach of aggravating factor guidelines that have been adopted for serious drug-related offences could conceivably be applied to other crimes such as those involving firearms.
To speak more about this, I now invite my colleague Michael Rowe to address the committee.