Mr. Speaker, Jennifer Schuller and Tammy Carvallo are two grade 10 students from Mount Boucherie Secondary School in Kelowna, B.C., who have organized a petition on their own initiative to demand changes to the Young Offenders Act.
Jennifer and Tammy began the petition out of frustration at the inaction of police in responding to threats from another student. They were told that nothing could be done because the person issuing the threats was a juvenile. To date the students have collected over 950 signatures.
Our children are sending a loud and clear message to the government. It is time to take action and provide a Young Offenders Act that reflects the concerns of every member of our Canadian society.
Despite what the Minister of Justice has said in the House about attaching too much panic to this issue when the very people the act applies to do not think it is working, we have a very grave problem on our hands.