Justice Committee on May 27th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Good afternoon, everybody. I would like to call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 31 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Pursuant to the order of reference of April 15, 2026, the committee will begin its study of Bill C-231, an act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the Standing Orders. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

The sound tests have been done for the people online. You're both nodding.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of witnesses and members.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic, and please mute yourself when you are not talking.

For those on Zoom, at the bottom of your screen, you can select the appropriate channel for interpretation: floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

As a reminder, all comments should be directed through the chair. For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

For the first hour, from 4:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., we have appearing today, on Bill C-231, MP Luc Berthold.

Welcome, Mr. Berthold. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for bringing your family with you, and thank you for moving this bill forward. We appreciate that.

We will be joined by Justine Berthold, who is a nurse, I understand, and Caroline Levesque, who is an early childhood educator. We also have Angy Riendeau, a criminologist, who will be providing some evidence as well.

As I said, we'll have a panel for 60 minutes, which will take us to about 5:45 p.m., and then we will proceed to clause-by-clause.

Mr. Berthold, I don't really need to explain the procedure to you, sir. You know it as well as or better than I do. The floor is yours.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Maloney.

I want to thank all my fellow members for being here to study Bill C‑231, known as the friends of David bill, which would replace an ineffective punitive approach with early intervention focused on the treatment and mental health of youth.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words of thanks.

We are here studying this bill today thanks to a number of people, namely my spouse, Caro, my daughters, Marie‑Soleil and Justine, and our daughter-in-law, Audrey.

When I started talking about the bill, a lot of people sent me messages and shared their stories in support of the bill. Even before that, when tragedy occurred in my son David's case, we received many messages of support from people who kept us going and encouraged us to turn what happened into something positive. I want to thank them.

One of the people who shared their experience with me was Angy Riendeau, who is here today. She told me she would be there if she could ever provide her support as a professional. I don't want to give her presentation for her, but I do want to sincerely thank her for being here.

I want to thank everyone at the House of Commons who worked on the bill. I'm not a lawyer, so legal terminology isn't my forte. I couldn't have done this without them. They knew when to rein me in, because when you're trying to change things, you want to go faster than you should sometimes. I might have put things in the bill that weren't compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, simply because I wanted to go faster and save as many young people as possible. Thanks to them and their good advice, however, we were able to achieve something I think has the potential to make a difference in the lives of many young people.

I also want to thank everyone in the government who worked on this bill. I want to thank Justice Minister Sean Fraser for supporting the bill, everyone in cabinet, and everyone at the justice department who helped draft the amendments before the committee. I have examined them, and they will help move the bill forward.

I want to thank my Conservative colleagues for their support every step along the way. Thank you to Larry Brock, our critic and shadow minister for justice, who has been beside me this whole time.

I also want to thank my Bloc Québécois, Liberal, NDP and Green Party colleagues for their unanimous support for the bill at second reading in the House. It was very emotional and moving to see the House of Commons stand united as one to help young people dealing with this type of situation. This is about David, but it's also about the friends of David. We'll have an opportunity to talk more about them shortly.

I'm going to be honest with you. I had a rather hard time preparing my remarks for today, which is why you don't have my statement in writing. When you pour your heart out once, as I did at second reading, it's hard to repeat yourself and say those same things again. Just about all of you were there. I'm probably going to say the same things I said then, but I want you to know how grateful I am to you for listening.

As I said in my speech and throughout my remarks, I am not the only one responsible for this. My spouse, Caro, my daughters, Marie‑Soleil and Justine, and I stood together in drafting this bill. I wanted them to be here today. They usually can't come to the House and be wherever, so I told them to come and share their story with my colleagues in the House of Commons.

Bill C‑231, the friends of David bill, is about helping young people, rather than punishing them. It is a bill I hope will bring all actors in the justice system to think about treatment options. Drug use is a symptom of something else. A friend might introduce someone to drugs for the first time. Someone might use drugs because of a mental health issue or a relationship problem. The causes are many. If we focus solely on the drug use, the inclination is to slap the person on the wrist, and tell them that they're not allowed to do what they're doing and that they have to get off drugs, period. The police have so much on their plate that even they will tell a drug user at some point that they'll let it go this time, but that the person has to get off drugs.

Perhaps things would have turned out differently for my son David had something been done when he was younger, had he been arrested or had it been possible to make him get treatment. I say “make him” because a 14-, 15- or 16-year-old doesn't want treatment or think they need it. They don't think they need help, because they can quit on their own. They think they'll be fine, so they tell their father not to worry. That's not true for everyone.

Treatment works for some people. I have friends who did drugs in high school who went on to become business leaders and high-ranking people, after managing to get completely off drugs themselves.

For some, however, that isn't possible. I am doing this for them. For the friends of David, as I call them, even though David doesn't know all the people we are going to help. It is for them that we chose to create this avenue and tell the justice system that we want it to look after these people as early as possible.

Instead of repeating more of the same, I just want to say something from the bottom of my heart. We can do things together, and we can do them well. All the parties came together to make this bill acceptable to everyone, with the same goal in mind. As I said, if we are able to save just one young person, that alone will be something, but my goal is to save more than one.

Thank you very much. I am happy to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. Berthold.

Ms. Levesque, I understand you're going to speak next.

[Caroline Levesque, Early Childhood Educator, As an Individual]

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, my name is Caroline Levesque, and I am David's mother. I am an early childhood educator.

[Justine Berthold, Nurse, As an Individual]

My name is Justine Berthold. I am a nurse and David's younger sister.

[Caroline Levesque]

Although she isn't here, I do want to mention our other daughter, Marie‑Soleil, who is in England. She helped prepare this joint statement.

Inaction has serious consequences, profound and irreversible consequences. In our family, those consequences have a story, a face and a name, David.

Bill C‑231 may have been life-changing for David. The bill alone may not have fixed everything, but as parents, we believe with our hearts and souls that it could have made a difference. We believe that it would have provided an opportunity for someone to intervene and say that they weren't going to turn their back on him, that they were going to help him.

On February 10, 2025, our son took his life. That day, we lost a young man, two children lost a father, a wife became a widow much too early, and two sisters lost a brother. Not a day goes by when we don't miss David. As parents, we have a lot of emotions, tremendous sadness, of course, but anger too. We are angry at the system, which didn't help him in his time of need. We are angry at society, which all too often turns a blind eye to the problem or responds too late. I can humbly say that we are also angry at ourselves, because we still wonder to this day whether we could have done something different.

[Justine Berthold]

However, as we were suffering and as people were sharing their stories with us, we came to believe one thing: We weren't alone.

David had friends, young people like him, struggling with the same things, the same addiction, the same silence. There were friends he knew, others he didn't; friends who introduced him to drugs; friends who show others how to take refuge in drugs; friends who are suffering without knowing it; friends who themselves have parents who don't know what to do. It is also for them that we are here today. Behind every story like David's, there are others—too many others.

[Caroline Levesque]

What we came to understand is that substance abuse among young people is not just about a pattern of behaviours, a bad decision or a wrong turn along the way. It is often a symptom of deeper suffering, a feeling of ill-being that hasn't been seen, heard or addressed.

All too often today, the system uses the wrong tools to address that reality, responding late, inappropriately or sometimes not at all.

When a young person comes before the justice system, the focus is usually on the offence. The most important question isn't always asked: How did that young person get there? Their actions are dealt with, but not the cause.

[Justine Berthold]

Bill C‑231 is not the be-all and end-all, but it does propose something vital: the real possibility that young people will be referred to a treatment program at the right time, before the situation gets worse. Time is of the essence. The more time goes by, the more substance use takes hold, and the more substance use takes hold, the harder it is to overcome.

Meanwhile, families wait, search, knock on doors, but all too often, those doors stay closed or don't open until it's too late.

[Caroline Levesque]

What we are asking for today is not more punishment, but better help. Our daughter and Justine's older sister, Marie‑Soleil, is watching this from England, where she is right now. To her, this bill is about recognizing that some youth are not offenders in need of correctional measures; they are young people in distress in need of help. This bill is about giving judges, police and other stakeholders real tools to help put these young people on the path to healing. It's also about sending a clear message: No young person struggling with addiction should be left to fend for themselves.

If this bill helps just one young person, prevents just one tragedy, keeps just one family from having to go through what we went through, it will have done its job.

We can't bring David back, but together, we can do something to help others.

[Justine Berthold]

We can do something to help his friends, all those young people who are suffering in silence, all those families who still have hope.

[Caroline Levesque]

Respectfully and with every fibre of my being as a mother, I am asking you to support this bill. Let's make it so that these young people's stories can have a different outcome.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you for sharing his story with us today.

I'll go to Ms. Riendeau for five minutes, and then we'll go to questions.

[Angy Riendeau, Criminologist, As an Individual]

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, let me first say that I sympathize with what MP Luc Berthold, his wife, Caroline Levesque, and their family have been going through since their son's death in February 2025. As someone who works with youth and families, I fully understand the desire to do something so that others won't have to experience what they did.

No one can oppose legislation that seeks to provide young people with better support at such a complex stage of development as adolescence. We all want the same thing: to protect young people before they get caught up in delinquent behaviour, develop addiction or become marginalized. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that establishing substance abuse as a risk factor or problem that requires treatment has to go hand in hand with careful expert assessment.

The reality is that most teens who are arrested are released on a promise to appear or summons. They will never have access to the comprehensive assessment that will inform the court as to the needs-based measures it should impose. That is the real problem, as far as I'm concerned.

It is equally important to keep in mind that we shouldn't just intervene quickly when substance use is the apparent problem. The needs of young people can be many and, in some cases, can go much deeper. They may have issues related to violence, sexuality, the development of empathy, trauma, mental health, rejection, attachment or distress. Substance abuse can be the visible symptom of a much more complicated feeling of unease. That is precisely why it's important to be able to quickly and carefully identify what the young person in question really needs in their specific circumstances. The goal should not be to target one type of problem that a treatment program can address. Rather, it should be to make comprehensive assessments available, so that the issues truly jeopardizing the young person's well-being and development can be addressed.

In my private criminology practice, I work with young people and families during a crucial period, one the system often overlooks: the time between the arrest—ideally, the first arrest—and the court hearing. This period can last a while. The families are often at a loss. Parents don't understand the court proceedings or the conditions imposed on their child. The young person is often under the misguided belief that their life is over because of the criminal charges. Without immediate support, structured help, or a risk and needs-based intervention plan, what happens all too often is the parent-child relationship starts to crumble, the young person offends again and the delinquent trajectory worsens.

Young people often say to me, “Angy, if you weren't there, I would feel like my life was over.” Some young people use this time to reflect, go back to school, start treatment or show the court that they feel a real sense of responsibility.

Ethically, what I have a very tough time with is that these services are primarily available in the private sector. The families that get specialized support are usually the ones who can afford it. Young people's needs should never depend on how much money their family has. In fact, research on juvenile delinquency shows that poverty and social inequality are major risk factors for adolescent delinquency, especially when coupled with social exclusion, a failure to remain in school, chronic family stress, and limited access to supports and prevention resources.

At this point, I wonder whether the solution lies in changing the legislation or, rather, understanding and implementing existing provisions in the Youth Criminal Justice Act, or YCJA.

The YCJA already provides a number of intervention options. Under the YCJA, before sentencing, the court can impose conditions and order follow-up measures tailored to the young person's needs. Section 91 stipulates that a young person may be released from custody in order to participate in a specified program or attend a treatment program. The court can order therapy programs or outpatient treatment. The problem is there aren't enough resources. There aren't enough expert assessments. There aren't enough community-based services. Above all, the measures aren't fully utilized. Legislative tools exist, but they are underutilized.

One that comes to mind is the convening of conferences provided for in section 19 of the YCJA. Those conferences allow for an interdisciplinary approach that can inform court decisions, but they are hardly used.

Keep in mind as well that Quebec usually addresses these situations from a health and social services standpoint, whereas other provinces take an approach that is more corrections or facility-based. Those different approaches directly influence the practices and interventions used, and the way the system deals with young people.

Studies on juvenile delinquency, however, demonstrate the importance of early intervention, in accordance with the principles of timeliness, accumulation and diversification of risk factors. The earlier the intervention, the greater our chances of preventing the accumulation of difficulties that will eventually lead to persistent criminality in adulthood.

The question, then, may not be solely how to compel a youth to undergo treatment, but rather how to ensure that, upon the first offence, a youth has rapid access to specialized assessment, care and appropriate resources.

We can add as many provisions as we like to a law, but if the resources aren't there, if specialized assessments aren't accessible, if families are left on their own for months, and if community stakeholders don't feel supported to intervene quickly, our mission today will not be achieved.

The youth's well-being must remain at the heart of judicial and social considerations. To achieve this, we must invest just as much in the practical implementation of existing measures as in the legislative amendments themselves.

In closing, I would like to return to the basics. Behind this bill lies immense human suffering. The loss experienced by MP Luc Berthold and his family serves as a powerful reminder of what brings us all here today: No parent should have to wonder whether their child could have been helped sooner.

I firmly believe that this collective effort should lead us to an important question: Do we really need to introduce more new legislative measures, or should we first ensure that the tools, resources and mechanisms already in place can finally be made quickly available to youth and families?

On the ground, practitioners are already seeing teenagers who want to understand what is happening to them, parents desperately seeking help, and families falling apart due to delays, a lack of services and a failure to provide care.

We already know that early intervention can change the course of a young person's life. We know that a young person's needs are many, complex and often invisible at first glance. We know that leaving a teenager alone with their distress for months increases the risks of relapse, disorder and exclusion.

Our collective responsibility today might not be simply to create more provisions, but above all to ensure that, at the first warning sign, a young person can truly access specialized assessment, concrete resources and adults capable of supporting them before the situation deteriorates. Beyond legislation, a rapid response, the quality of human connection and real access to services are often what alter a trajectory.

Thank you for your attention and for the importance you will give to these considerations and this testimony.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to the first round of questions for six minutes each, starting with Mr. Baber.

[Roman Baber, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Luc, my friend, I am truly sorry.

It's the same for Caroline and Justine. Please accept our sincerest condolences. I'm sure that I speak on behalf of all of my committee colleagues, and I'm sure for all of our House of Commons staff as well, in extending deepest condolences for your loss. Please consider me a friend of David.

Unfortunately, addiction is an issue that transcends politics and socio-economic status. It affects so many of us so profoundly.

If I may share a personal element, about 25 years ago, my group of friends lost a friend. Simon Wood, of Richmond Hill, was unable to cope with his addiction and passed away at the age of 22. I'm grateful for the opportunity to send a shout-out to my boys and say that it's really remarkable that I have the privilege of honouring him today.

Unfortunately, the addiction crisis in Canada is out of control throughout our cities, our suburbs and our small towns and villages. It affects our country so profoundly now. When it comes to addiction, we often try to address every cause of addiction rather than the addiction itself. We talk about addiction vis-à-vis housing, social services and employment, but we never, or rarely, talk about the addiction itself or what helps addiction, which is rehabilitation.

I thank you sincerely, Luc, for bringing this bill before us today and for giving us an opportunity to perhaps save lives. I couldn't think of a more worthwhile thing to do as a member of this committee.

I'll do a bit of work now and run very quickly through what your bill seeks to do.

My understanding is that your bill would allow youth courts, in cases involving offences related to controlled substances or cannabis, to delay sentencing so that a young person can participate in a substance abuse treatment program. It would also allow youth courts to make orders requiring attendance in an addiction treatment program as part of a sentence, but it specifies that failing or refusing to complete such a program cannot in and of itself result in a custodial sentence. Finally, your bill is designed to expand the role of addiction treatment within the Youth Criminal Justice Act, ensuring rehabilitation opportunities for young offenders.

Before I proceed, are there any other key components to the bill that I've missed or that you may wish to address, MP Berthold?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

I think you did a great job. I must hire you for putting it into few words. Thank you.

[Roman Baber, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, MP Berthold.

I will very quickly clarify a number of points that are before us today.

In the first section, the bill essentially provides that if a young person is alleged to have committed an offence that is linked to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act or if there is a link to cannabis, then a police officer “shall consider whether it would be appropriate to refer the young person, with the young person's consent, to an addiction treatment program”.

Am I to understand that this is before any charges are laid?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

There will be a change in the bill that will allow a police officer, a Crown attorney or a judge to refer the young person to treatment. The goal is to make them intervene sooner and not just let the young person go. It's sending a message that they will do something better for the young person if they do something that brings him or her into the system.

For David, the first time he was to accept.... It was not a real treatment; he never accepted it, but when he faced a wall for the first time, that is when he really understood where he was. That was long after he was 18 years old, unfortunately.

We think that if a police officer or someone who intervened earlier had done something, maybe—it's a maybe; we don't know—that could have changed something for David.

I think it's a good idea to provide each and every one with the opportunity. That's the message I will send afterwards, because I'm planning to tour with these changes to convince people to have more interventions, more money and more treatment centres for those who can't afford treatment.

Roman, just stop me. I'm an MP, and I'm used to using up my time.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you, Mr. Baber.

Ms. Lattanzio, it's over to you.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, I'd like to thank the witnesses for joining us today. I'd especially like to thank David's immediate family for sharing this very personal and emotional experience with us. I'd also like to congratulate them on the work they've done so far. I can tell them that this bill has resonated with me, too, in a certain way.

I will direct my questions to you, Mr. Berthold.

I know that David's memory lies at the heart of this bill, as you have mentioned several times today. Could you explain what you hope this legislation will bring to young Canadians and their families?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

Of course, I can tell you about what I am seeking and share and what we've been through. I'd like to invite my wife to add her own comments if she wishes.

What we experienced was a kind of indifference. It starts with a small amount of use that you don't even notice—a joint every now and then. Your child stays out later. The first time, they come home from a party or an outing completely drunk. It starts with alcohol, then moves on to something else. We tell ourselves it's just a youthful phase and that it will pass. That's the parents' initial reaction. We don't realize that something else is going on.

At some point, we get a call, and we realize there are problems at school. Then we got another call: The principal wanted to search his locker at school—but that didn't stop his behaviour. The goal was to prevent him from selling drugs to others or stop others from using them, but nothing was done to tell him he had to stop because he was doing something wrong.

That is what I hope this bill will change. It needs to make those involved realize that this is when they must intervene. It is at this point that we might discover that the young person is using too much and is forced to sell drugs to pay for their own use. Young people don't have unlimited money—and these drugs are expensive. At some point, drugs lead to other crimes, and then to yet more crimes—we must intervene before that happens.

The bill seeks to raise awareness. As I said, once the bill is passed, significant work will be required to raise awareness. We will need to educate police officers, prosecutors, and judges. By enshrining the concept of treatment in the law—and I'm talking not only about treatment for problematic drug use but also for other mental health issues that may affect young people—I believe we can bring about real change.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Since the introduction of your bill, have any testimonies, discussions with other families, or meetings with front line workers or community organizations reinforced—in your view—the message you are conveying in this bill?

[Caroline Levesque]

On a more personal level, we heard many testimonials. Many people contacted us on Messenger to share their stories and tell us they were supporting us, and that if we wanted and needed testimonials, they would come forward to provide them.

I'm talking about the more personal perspective, but Luc could elaborate a bit more on the professional aspect.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, QC]

On a professional level, I had a meeting with the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health, which brought together several stakeholders. Everyone welcomed the fact that there was finally a desire to address treatment in the legislation. Currently, that is missing from the law. It was a great meeting. There were suicide prevention workers and representatives from various sectors when I attended this meeting.

I also met with the Réseau d'entraide des Appalaches, a group that works on the front lines. They are street workers. Simply put, these are the street workers who go check on the young people we see lying on a table in the middle of the night or under a tent in the morning. They check to see if these young people are all right and make sure they can move forward with their lives. These people also say we need to talk about this, that elected officials need to talk about it and be made aware of it. They told me that what I was doing would help them.

We did indeed receive many stories from other community organizations afterwards. It's touching and moving every time.