Our community is very concerned about it. You heard previously from Chief Rob Davis and Chief Darren Montour from Six Nations. They're both very concerned about it in terms of public safety, and I think their concern is justified.
Has the system drawn a proper balance between protecting the public and protecting the rights of individuals who have not yet been convicted? There's a growing perception in the community—certainly in mine and in the surrounding area—that the balance is out of kilter, and that the interests of those who are clearly of a criminal bent, from their records, are receiving greater consideration than the interests of those who want to see themselves protected by the system.
When people lose confidence in the system, you see the broken windows of policing. If people see that there aren't consequences, they begin to question whether they should follow the rules, because that's what the rule of law is all about. If we depend on a rule of law system that says to somebody that you....
Let me get this straight. The rule of law depends very much on most citizens obeying the rules and acting as lawful, proper, responsible citizens. As soon as you have to police everyone, your system's going to break down. That's my concern. We are seeing a general increase in this kind of activity, whether it's very violent or whether it's non-violent, and it's causing people to question the administration of justice.
I wonder what's happened to paragraph 515(10)(c). Isn't that one of the three grounds? You never hear any conversation, or you hear very little conversation about that, but there seems to be lip service paid to it.
I'd suggest it would be worth it for the committee to look at that paragraph. Is there a need to expand the subsections to enhance it, so that it has greater importance and is a consideration?
Also, we've experienced in our community many problems with a surety system. Chief Davis, in the same article, talks about the prospect of professional sureties. The issue with sureties.... I think over time, the system has replaced incarceration with sureties who are supposed to monitor and control the behaviour of the accused. You have many sureties who don't take the responsibilities very seriously, because there really are no consequences in the system for those who do not do what they're supposed to do as a surety.
I certainly encourage the committee to consider tightening up the rules when it comes to sureties, to make that system more effective and more responsible.