Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here. I would also like to thank you for sharing your life stories with us. You represent many of those who were accused of a crime at some point in their lives.
I think that one of the main issues with this bill is that, once someone commits a third offence, he or she becomes completely ineligible for a record suspension. Your story is making me think that this ban could cause a major problem. It's possible for someone to commit several crimes in one night or in less than a week. As you deftly put it, Mr. Courchene, people don't necessarily choose to join a street gang. Sometimes, that lifestyle is deeply ingrained and can be traced to the family.
You could perhaps help us with the following point. The bill also states that once a person is accused of an offence referred to in Schedule 1, which covers a number of sexual offences, he or she becomes ineligible to apply for a record suspension. We know that, for crimes involving drugs, and so on, the success rate of rehabilitation is quite high.
I am wondering about sex offences such as, for instance, pedophilia and sexual assault of a minor. I must admit that I have a hard time believing that people who commit these types of crimes can be rehabilitated. I worked at the Institut Philippe-Pinel for a long time. I can tell you that when offenders also have mental issues, it is very difficult to rehabilitate them, even with the help of all the programs currently available.
Don't you think that, in such cases, record suspension should not be granted, since these people could end up working in schools, with sports teams, and so on? What do you think about this?