Good afternoon.
Section 12 of the charter guarantees the right to not be subject to any cruel punishment and to protect human dignity. We had the relatively recent decision in R v. Bissonnette at the Supreme Court of Canada, which warned against imposing a sentence on the presumption that the offender is beyond redemption and lacks the moral autonomy needed for rehabilitation. The risk here is that a sentence of life imprisonment with 40 years of parole ineligibility could be perceived as being intrinsically incompatible with human dignity and, therefore, contrary to section 12 of the charter.
The CACP is calling for some amendments to the bill in order to strengthen it and put it in a better position to face any challenges to this resolution. First, we think the provisions should provide some clarification on the offenders' right to appeal, specifically regarding the right to appeal the ineligibility period. Second, the provisions should provide some guidance on the consideration for imposing periods of ineligibility that exceed 25 years. Perhaps this could take the form of providing some factors that the judge could consider as aggravating when determining what is an appropriate period of ineligibility.
Therefore, we invite the committee to consider amending the bill to straighten it and put it on a better footing for any challenges it might encounter in the future.