Yes, Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond. Certainly this is not the first examination of juvenile justice. The Young Offenders Act has been amended since first passage. I also remind him that I was a part of trying to administer the old juvenile delinquents act in the field and was a part of federal-provincial conferences that went on for years, round and round.
I am saying perhaps our mind is closed, but others have resisted the response from the community. The basic example that he provided was of a first-time young person who makes a mistake and steals a chocolate bar. In my experience in the practice in British Columbia, that person would not be charged
but they would be dealt with through alternative measures of the Young Offenders Act.
Similarly an adult, a first-time offender, who steals a chocolate bar in the adult system would not be charged either but would also be referred by the crown for adult diversion.
There is more than enough discretion at all levels of the justice system for it to operate and accommodate the extreme examples cited.
My point is that we need some balance and proportionality. It is not a matter of social philosophy coming from a particular political point of view. It is the experience of communities right across this nation that has arisen from the practical application of the act in the community. If it was the appropriate balance, one would expect that the community would be responding in an appropriate way with some measure of confidence. However, the lack of confidence related in our motion is what we have and that is the empirical evidence of results in the field.