I too have had the opportunity to attend parole hearings, obviously, and have spoken with victims. I think Mr. Sweet spoke very eloquently to some of the experiences that he has had. I can reflect on some similar experiences. I would go further to say that we often talk about the day of the hearing and the emotion and all that's attached to it.
When you speak to families and family members who do feel that obligation to attend because they're representing a person who can't be there, they'll talk not just about the day of the hearing but about the months in advance, the year in advance. Are they going to apply for parole? Is the hearing going to actually take place? Is it going to be cancelled? Do I need to amend my victim impact statement? It's not just the day of the hearing. Then, of course, once the hearing takes place, it's the “after” of that as well. This is a huge toll that takes place.
Of course, one of the things that this bill is trying to address is—if I were to say it and use those four words—that victims are looking to be informed, considered, protected, and supported, so those are a lot of the pieces of this.
Number one, victims need information. They need information on the offender who harmed them—and a lot of the pieces are here—and they need to know if the offender, while in the institution, is taking proper steps toward rehabilitation, not just that he was taking a course and that it was completed but was he engaged in that?
Also, what are the risks that have been associated with this offender? Are the responses toward rehabilitation appropriate? Conversely, if in fact they're not, the victims may want to take extra steps when the offenders get back into the community. When they're released back into the community, be it on a pass or be it on parole, they want to know and need to know what conditions are attached to that. If there's a condition that says the offender is not to communicate with the victim or their family, they need to know that. If there is a geographic specification, they need to know that. It really comes down to their right to be informed so that they have the information they need to feel safe.
When this talks about, for example, the parole board considering a victim's safety in their decision-making and looking at that, this is something we hear from victims—how do I know those board members have considered my safety when they are making that decision around release? I think a lot of the things that this bill is bringing forward....
If we were to look at the specific amendments, for example, we would see that when we talk about the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, section 142 gives direction to the Parole Board of Canada, and section 26 gives that authority to Correctional Service Canada. You have those two sections over two federal agencies that both are involved with the offender, both on the management side and in the correctional plan, as well as the conditional release issues.
What I'm seeing is that there are some things, for example, such as a work release, and it's a decision of the warden, through Correctional Service Canada, to issue one of those. We should really have reflected in section 146 and section 26 that the governing authorities should have the ability, because they can only give the victim what the legislation says they can. When you look at something like a correctional plan.... As I said in my earlier testimony, I've listened to victims who heard for the first time at the parole board hearing about how or whether an offender has been returned, which might be 15 or 20 years down the road....
What they're saying is that Correctional Service Canada has that correctional plan early on, so if they have the authority to give that information to the victims earlier in the process, they can assess those risk issues and whether the offenders are engaged towards their rehabilitation. It would make sense in these modifications we're recommending, in that sections 26 and 142 grant both of those authorities the mirror ability to give that information to victims of crime.