Well, Chair, in fact, we know that the rate of violent recidivism in Canada is less than 1%. The point is that I think when we're crafting this, we have to be careful, because these are real people. And we have to remember this after a lot of years of no instances of any repeat offences.
You have somebody like the gentleman we heard here, not just the fellow who went through the abuse of the residential school program, but somebody who all committee members acknowledged was doing fantastic work as an entrepreneur, as a taxpaying citizen, who said that he can't grow his business because he can't go to the United States if he doesn't get a pardon. He is somebody who was selling steroids. Clearly it was a mistake, but clearly he is somebody who's reformed and is now an advocate for making people better. Why would we throw brick walls in front of people--and maybe this can be to the other witnesses--who clearly have turned a corner? Why would we seek to block them from becoming good, taxpaying citizens? Why would we block them from growing their businesses or helping other aboriginal youth to make sure they don't make the same mistakes? I mean, that's what this bill is doing in different parts today. That's what I'm saying here. Absolutely.
Frankly, a number of years ago, there were elements we could have tightened. The argument I'm making on pardons is that we should make sure we're not throwing brick walls in front of those folks who deserve another chance, who made mistakes when they were 18 and 19 but deserve their shot at redemption. That's fundamentally what rehabilitation in our incarceration system is about, is it not?