Evidence of meeting #17 for Justice and Human Rights in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was indigenous.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Élisabeth Brière Liberal Sherbrooke, QC
Mr. Chair, can you go to the other one and I'll come back afterwards?
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
It's after 4. Some of us have things we have to get to, so what time were you planning to wrap up? I know we're scheduled to go until 4.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
Ms. Brière was for four minutes, and there are two two-minute rounds, so 10 minutes, if that would be the will of the committee. It's because we had that sound issue for approximately the same time.
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
I'm going to have to step out, so can we wrap it up in six minutes, with turns of two, two, and two minutes?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
We can do that if I see nods, and also if Ms. Brière can do that in two minutes. If she doesn't, we'll get somebody else.
We'll go to Mr. Fortin—
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
On our side, we'd be willing to forfeit our round—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
We'll go to Monsieur Fortin and Monsieur Garrison for two minutes each.
Monsieur Fortin, please go ahead.
Bloc
Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Mr. Brochet.
We've heard a lot about the overincarceration of indigenous peoples, especially indigenous women, as well as Black and other racialized individuals. Some seem to think that those high rates of incarceration are due to the fact that the Criminal Code sets out mandatory minimum sentences. Personally, I disagree.
I'd like to hear your view. Will eliminating mandatory minimum sentences in fact reduce the overincarceration of racialized people? Isn't there another way to reduce that overincarceration, which we agree is not a good thing?
President, Association des directeurs de police du Québec
I think the bill addresses a symptom of a much more troubling issue—the socio-economic hardships that certain groups face. I don't think this bill will achieve the goal. Above all, I think it will lead to serious offences being downplayed, when the perpetrators of those offences should actually face severe penalties. That is what worries me.
I think the government should invest more in areas such as health, education and housing, instead of merely tackling the symptom of a serious problem.
Bloc
Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Relatively speaking, would you say that, in your police department, racialized and indigenous individuals are arrested more often than white people?
President, Association des directeurs de police du Québec
Laval has a very small indigenous population. Nevertheless, visible minorities are overrepresented when it comes to certain types of crimes, for instance, involving gangs.
President, Association des directeurs de police du Québec
It comes back to what I was saying earlier. We have to do the groundwork, and that means focusing on prevention and social development, and helping marginalized communities. That is how we find the real solutions to major problems that have existed for years. The answer isn't simply to hand down lighter sentences. Even though it's—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
Thank you, Mr. Brochet.
Thank you, Monsieur Fortin.
I'll go to Mr. Garrison for two minutes.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to go back to Ms. Latimer.
In your introductory remarks, you talked about the provisions to provide increased use of cautions, warnings and referrals and a concern that we needed—if I understood you correctly—to monitor that discussion to make sure that it's not being used in ways that would disadvantage members of minorities. Can you say a little more about that?
Executive Director, John Howard Society of Canada
Yes, I think that's a crucial thing to do. If, to some extent, the overrepresentation of certain groups is being informed by bias, subliminal or objective bias, when you give discretion within the system, you may well see more rather than less of that happening. I think it needs to be coupled with a strong educational component about what you're intending to achieve with this discretion, and monitoring of the discretion to see whether racial minorities are the beneficiaries of these particular measures.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
Thank you to you, Ms. Latimer, for being here today and to the John Howard Society for all the great work you do.
I'll conclude there, Mr. Chair.