Thank you for that, because I'd like to add all the recommendations relating to restitution included in our report, Shifting the Conversation.
I think what we're talking about here is balance. This bill is dealing with, as I said.... I tried to find the data to look at what would be the actual moneys, and they are a smaller amount. We're talking about the huge of cost of crime here, and I think that the recommendations on restitution that we make in the report are very specific ones to get us as a country to make a fundamental shift to start putting the victim and the losses they've suffered to that.
Again, when I've been before committees, I do talk about balance because it's not an either/or here. When we look at our criminal justice system and healthy and safe communities, this include everything from prevention to intervention, to early intervention, and to where we end up at the other end of the criminal justice system. And for many victims, their needs go way beyond the point where the criminal justice system or court case has finished.
What we can do is to start with some of the very practical recommendations we have in this report. I think of the recent announcement for making mandatory the federal victim surcharge and doubling that, which will help raise funds for the provinces and territories. But I think we do need to be making some very concrete moves towards actual restitution and in how we're managing that on a national level in terms of providing some actual compensation.
One of the things that often comes up in these conversations—and I did have the opportunity to hear a few as well—is the offender's ability to pay given small amounts they earn. But when they come back out....
There is something in the United States I think we might want to look at. I need to do a little more digging into this. There's something called the inmate financial responsibility program in the United States. It basically works with offenders so that they can understand financial responsibility, including payment of debts once they are out of the institution and back in the community. I think it reflects some of the comments made that these debts are still owing. I go back to my position that difficult as it is for a lot of people to pay these, I'm going to put the victims forward.
When they aren't getting some of the basic services, the victims understand that the majority of offenders are coming back out into the community and don't want them to reoffend. There's not one victim I have talked to who does. They will tell you that they don't want what happened to them to happen to anyone else. They understand that the inmates need supports while they're in the institution and when they're back in the community. What they can't understand is why they don't have access to the supports that are in place and available to offenders.
So it is about a rebalancing and the practical things we can do to really take the costs off victims, Really, with 83% of the tangible and intangible costs of crime in our country borne by victims, we need to be looking at newer ways. And so there are some very positive recommendations in the report.
I thank you for that question .