We are. One of the cases that we talked about recently was that of an individual who was involved in a theft and was confronted by a security guard, and that turned violent immediately. A weapon was produced. What started as a theft turned out to be another violent incident.
When members of my community talk to me, it shows that they're losing faith in the justice system when they see the same individuals, either repeat violent offenders out on the street committing more crime or those involved in theft, over and over again. A letter to Minister Fraser was put together by Mayor Knox of Portage la Prairie; Mayor Fawcett of Brandon, Manitoba; Kathy Valentino, the head of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities; and me. We said to Minister Fraser that we can't ignore the small things, because the small things become the big things if left unchecked.
I am all for diversion. I'm absolutely for rehabilitation, but when there are violent incidents, we need to use all tools possible to separate the perpetrators from their potential victims. For those who have a history of disregarding their court orders who we think will go on to likely or quite possibly repeat a violent offence, we have to use whatever tools possible to separate those individuals from the public.