Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to my colleagues for bringing this forward.
While the events that brought us to this conversation did not occur in my riding, I certainly have many people asking about this, who have asked me personally about this response and the government's decision.
I just want to go through two things. One is that there was an Order Paper question placed to government in June by our colleague Mr. Caputo. The reason I bring this up today is that it asks how often this happens. We've heard this in the House. Is this something that's happening regularly? That was the question that was asked. The answer came back from Correctional Service Canada.
The question that was asked was this:
With regard to Corrections Services Canada: (a) how many dangerous offenders are currently housed in (i) minimum, (2)medium, security prisons; and (b) how many offenders convicted of multiple murders are currently in medium security prisons?
Correctional Service Canada came back and said:
This report is based on information entered into the Offender Management System and its accuracy depends upon the timeliness and accuracy of the data entered in the system.
In the 1940s, the Criminal Code was amended to include provisions that gave the courts the authority to designate certain repeat offenders as “Habitual Criminals”, and offenders convicted of certain sexual offences as “Dangerous Sexual Offenders”. These provisions allowed for an indeterminate or life sentence. Dangerous Offender legislation came into effect in Canada on October 15, 1977, replacing the Habitual Offender and Dangerous Sexual Offender provisions that were abolished. A Dangerous Offender is an individual given an indeterminate or a determinate sentence on the basis of a particularly violent crime or pattern of serious violent offences where it is judged that the offender’s behaviour is unlikely to be inhibited by normal standards of behavioural restraint (see section 753 of the Criminal Code).
Note that all in-custody Dangerous Offenders, Dangerous Sexual Offenders and Habitual Criminals were included in the response.
In Custody includes all active offenders incarcerated in a CSC facility, offenders on temporary absence from a CSC facility, offenders who are temporarily detained in a CSC facility and offenders on remand in a CSC facility.
Now, the stats are to the end of 2022-23 fiscal year, so that's as of March 31, 2023. Here is the number of offenders with “dangerous offender” designation in custody at the end of March 2023, by offender security level: in maximum security, there were 99 in-custody dangerous offenders; in medium security, there were 580 dangerous offenders; and in minimum security, there were 57, for a total of 736.
There is a table below that, which I'm about to provide. The document says:
The table below presents the number of offenders with at least two counts of murder on their current sentence who were in custody at the end of fiscal year 2022-2023 with a Medium Offender Security Level (OSL).
The following offences are included: First Degree Murder, Second Degree Murder, Capital Murder, Capital Murder of Person Less than 18 Years Old, and Non-Capital Murder as well as any break and enter offences where one of the murder offences listed previously was committed during the break and enter.
There were 239 offenders listed with at least two counts of murder on their current sentence in custody at the end of March in medium-security prisons. Now, that is a bit of a concern. It should be a serious concern for Canadians.
I guess the point I want to make in this.... I have some notes prepared and I want to stick to them, because I think it's important for those of us in this committee, as well as Canadians, to understand.
The Liberal government made a decision with Paul Bernardo that actually shocked and dismayed Canadians. He is potentially one of the most notorious serial killers and rapists in our history and was transferred out of maximum security to a medium-security facility. It's their decision to do nothing about it that has caused concern for Canadians.
The decision has ignited outrage, and rightfully so, despite what Anne Kelly, the commissioner of Correctional Services, has said, which was that the decision to transfer Bernardo was “sound”. She said, “The review committee concluded that the decisions to reclassify Paul Bernardo to medium and transfer him...followed all applicable laws and policies.” Bernardo's heinous crimes are etched in the memories of those who, as Mr. Baldinelli said, lived through the darkness of his actions. The pain he inflicted on the victims and their families is immeasurable.
The Canadian government needs to ensure that crimes—especially the most heinous crimes—have real consequences. The Conservatives and our leader, Mr. Poilievre, have been saying to the media that we agree that CSC followed the law in transferring Bernardo. However, we also said that the law must be changed, specifically a 2018 Criminal Code amendment that requires inmates to be held in the least restrictive environment possible while in custody. Whose job is it to do that? It's ours. I would beseech this committee to understand that this job now rests with this committee. We shouldn't be passing that responsibility on or ignoring it; the duty lies with us.
Local communities that were most affected by Bernardo's monstrous acts have spoken out. They are calling for actions, as we heard Mr. Baldinelli speak about. The cities of Thorold and St. Catharines have taken a courageous stand, expressing their grave concerns about Mr. Bernardo's transfer and demanding that he be sent back to a maximum-security prison, where he belongs.
If the Liberals are willing to let the most notorious serial killers and rapists in our Canadian history out of maximum security, then what purpose do maximum-security prisons have? Alternatively, Mr. Poilievre has called on the Prime Minister to issue a directive to require that all mass murderers remain in maximum-security prisons for the entirety of their sentences, or for Parliament to pass a Conservative bill, as Mr. Baldinelli has spoken to, with the same requirement.
Our Conservative leader speaks for all of us when he says that Bernardo “should never be out of a maximum security [prison]. To allow it is an injustice to victims and their families, on whom he exacted his terrible outrages.”
Our Conservative demands, however, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. They have been sent to the Prime Minister, to the previous minister and the new Minister of Public Safety, and to local MPs Mr. Bittle and Vance Badawey. Sadly, they've gone—