Madam Speaker, this month marks the second anniversary of the period during which it has been my privilege to serve the Prime Minister and the government as Minister of Justice. I can say that during that time there have been no experiences that have left deeper impressions on me and there has been no work that has been more important to me than those occasions on which I have met with victims of crime, spoken to family members who survive others who have died as a result of
crime and heard from them about their perception of justice and the justice system.
I refer to meeting with Priscilla de Villiers, whose daughter Nina was murdered and meeting with Chuck Cadman in Vancouver, whose son Jesse was murdered. Priscilla de Villiers reacted by creating CAVEAT, which is now a strong national organization standing for the rights of victims and drawing the attention of Canadians, including governments of all levels, to the shortcomings in the justice system. Chuck Cadman created the organization called CRY, in which thousands of people participate actively for constructive change in the justice system.
I have met with Rita Jervis, a woman from the Maritimes, whose husband was shot and who herself was seriously injured. She survived that attack to devote her energies and her efforts to improving the justice system.
I met with the parents of the young people murdered at the McDonald's restaurant in Cape Breton. I heard from them about the tragic and everlasting sadness and suffering that is the result of that dreadful crime.
I met with Stu Garrioch and his wife in Calgary, whose son was killed in crime.
I met with Margot B, the courageous woman from Quebec who campaigned across the country for changes in the system as a result of her victimization of sexual assault.
I met with Jay Danelesko in Edmonton, whose wife Barb was murdered in the middle of the night in their home. She died in front of their children.
I met with Monica Rainey, whose own son, a toddler, was the victim of sexual molestation. She turned her energies and her extraordinary talents into efforts to create ways to protect other children from that kind of victimization.
I met with Steve Carpenter, who lost his daughter in a dreadful tragedy in British Columbia.
I met with Morris Rose, whose son died a victim of violent crime.
I met with Tom Ambus last week in Toronto, whose brother was brutally stabbed to death on the floor of Tom Ambus' store.
It is said that victims are too often forgotten, that victims are the orphans of the criminal justice system. I stand in this place today to say that those persons and all the other victims with whom I have met have left too deep and indelible an impression on this Minister of Justice ever to be forgotten as I approach the issues in my portfolio, ever to be forgotten as I bring forward proposals for change, ever to be forgotten as I work to develop the policy of the government toward criminal justice.
I shall never forget as I do my work the part they play and the part they have played, not only through the suffering they have endured through the awful loss of loved ones, but also through the way in which they have helped the police in the investigation of the crimes, how they have had the courage to testify in the prosecution of those responsible, how they have devoted their energies afterward, notwithstanding their personal pain, in efforts to improve the justice system, working constructively for change.
Since I took up my duties as Minister of Justice, we have tabled several bills aimed at improving the criminal justice system for the benefit of Canadian society as a whole and more specifically for the benefit victims of crime.
I believe the changes we have made have improved significantly the circumstances for victims in the Canadian system of justice. I point to Bill C-41, which for the first time sets out in the criminal law of this country in statute the principles and the purposes of sentencing, including the obligation of the criminal justice system to provide reparation to victims of crime.
Bill C-41 specifically provides that the court will consider as an aggravating circumstance that someone was victimized by reason of a breach of trust, by reason of violence by a man against a woman in a domestic context, or by reason of hatred based on the personal characteristics of the victim. They are all on the bad list.
Bill C-41 also contains changes in section 745 of the Criminal Code to ensure that the surviving family members of someone who is murdered must be heard from by the court when an application is made for permission to seek early parole under section 745.
Perhaps most importantly for present purposes, Bill C-41 also provided for much strengthened provisions for restitution. I listened to the hon. member opposite describe the urgent need for avenues of restitution for the victims of crime. Bill C-41 brought together significant improvements, which were combined in that bill to provide that from and after the date of its proclamation the courts will be empowered to order, even without the victim asking for it, appropriate restitution. The victim may take that order, register it in the courts in the same manner as a civil judgment, and it can be enforced in the same manner as a civil judgment, taking the responsibility for enforcement off the shoulders of the victim and putting it where it belongs.
In Bill C-42 the government proposed changes that are now in effect in the Criminal Code of Canada to provide that peace bonds,
restraining orders made by the courts to keep threatening persons away from their potential victims, can be made on application by police officers instead of by the potential victim himself or herself, to relieve them of that obligation, to make it that much easier for them to have that court protection.
Bill C-42 provided dozens of ways to streamline the criminal justice system for the benefit of victims, including, for example-I offer this only as an example-that those who have lost property in crime may establish ownership of the property for the purposes of the prosecution simply by swearing and filing an affidavit rather than having to take the time and trouble to appear in court personally to establish that technical proof.
In Bill C-72 we expressly provided words in the Criminal Code that will bring home the personal responsibility of those who intoxicate themselves voluntarily and then commit a crime of violence involving the general intent of harming others. The preamble of Bill C-72 is express testimony of this government's concern about and commitment to victims of crime. Bill C-72 stands as a profound and important statement from this Parliament on behalf of victims that those who intoxicate themselves voluntarily and then harm others in those circumstances will be held accountable and cannot rely upon their own self-induced drunkenness or intoxication from drugs as an excuse. That is action on behalf of victims.
In Bill C-37 the changes to the Young Offenders Act expressly provided for the first time for victim impact statements in court proceedings involving young offenders. In the second phase of that work involving the young offenders, which was commenced by the justice committee of the House this week, I expressly asked the committee to look at different approaches toward juvenile justice with specific reference to the role of the victim. I asked how we can have that act improved so as to more directly involve the victim through reparation, through confronting the offender, through restitution, through community work, so that people who are the victims of crime can have some sense of justice out of the process. I expressly asked the committee to work with me in designing changes to achieve those objectives. I share those objectives with the members opposite. We have the same goals in mind. I have invited them this week as members of the committee to work constructively with me toward the attainment of these goals.
In Bill C-104, which received the agreement of all parties in the House, we introduced for the first time an express provision in the Criminal Code empowering police officers to go to the courts for a warrant to obtain bodily substances for testing for DNA, important forensic evidence either to establish guilt or prove innocence. That is a step forward for victims. When combined with the further legislation the Solicitor General of Canada is preparing to establish a data bank for DNA samples of those convicted of crime, we will have available to the authorities in this country an invaluable
resource to detect and ultimately pre-empt and prevent crimes of violence against victims.
I have three more general points before concluding. First, when we speak of victims of crime, indeed, when we speak of violent crimes generally, it is very important to remember that 70 per cent of the victims of crime are acquainted with their assailants. The general impression that some might have that violent crime is confined to the streets where strangers lurk dangerously to assault us, is not right. The vast majority of victims know the person who attacks them. That leads to a related point.
An appalling percentage of crime goes on in the home and involves violence by men against women. It is to that cause, against that kind of crime, that we must also unite in our efforts and in our opposition. Violence by men against women tragically forms too large a part of the crime problem in the country. We must work through the wide variety of strategies available to combat, to reduce and ultimately to end it.
Second, I draw the attention of hon. members to the importance, not just of legislative initiatives but to crime prevention. Because law alone, no matter how much improved by the suggestions made by hon. members, will never, ever be enough to address the problem of crime and community safety.
It cannot work in isolation because it deals with symptoms and not with causes. It becomes engaged when it is too late. The crime has been committed, someone has been harmed and the charge has been laid. Crime prevention is a strategy by which we can take community resources and energy and through linking police enforcement with the justice system, with social agencies, with families, we can do something about crime before it happens.
All across the country as I go from the west to central Canada to the maritimes, I see the energy and the commitment of communities. Instead of just wringing their hands about community safety, they are rolling up their sleeves and doing something constructive about it.
The National Crime Prevention Council created by the government in the summer of 1994 provides the national instrument by which that energy and that commitment can be brought together and focused on that important national objective.
Let it not be thought that we will make ourselves safe simply by ratcheting up the penalties and making the laws more harsh. That is only part of the approach. We must also look at the underlying causes of crime. We must recognize that preventing crime has as much to do with the strength of families as it does with the length of sentences. It has as much to do with literacy as it does with law.
It has as much to do with community co-operation as it does with mandatory supervision.
No one here should think that we are serving victims if we offer them only vengeance. Victims want more than to see the offender punished. That is where hon. members of the third party, in my respectful view, fall short in their approach to this problem. More is required than simply vengeance.
If ever there was eloquent evidence of that principle, it was offered by the family of one of the victims in the Bernardo tragedy. I believe it was the Mahaffey family. When asked about capital punishment, the Mahaffey family said: "That is not our objective. That is not what we are after. What we are after is to make sure that something positive comes of this awful tragedy. What we are after is to make sure that person is put away for life in prison. What we are after is to ensure that it never happens again". That is what victims want and it is toward that constructive objective that we must work together.
A few weeks ago I spoke outside on this magnificent Hill to a rally organized by a group of victims seeking changes in the criminal justice system. I undertook on that occasion to work with them in the name of justice for changes to our laws to achieve the objectives of which I have spoken today. I intend to keep that commitment, Mr. Speaker.
I said earlier that I welcomed this opportunity to respond to the motion before the House today. The government is proud of its achievements because it has a made a concerted effort to approach the problem of crime from various angles.
I am not suggesting that all has been said and done. But I do know that creating new crimes with increasingly stiffer sentences will not solve the problem. Finding the causes of crime is no easy matter. It involves a cause and effect analysis as wideranging and complex as human nature itself. However, to claim that we can solve the problem by getting rid of criminals as long as possible is simply to evade the issue.
Let me close by emphasizing that the motion before the House today is somewhat of a surprise since it emanates from members of the third party. Sometimes the way they express themselves on such subjects, one would think that the members of the third party have a monopoly on righteousness when it comes to the position of victims.
Their position, I am afraid, is hardly that strong. I suggest that their presentation today of this resolution offers somewhat of an embarrassing contrast for the third party. Today, through their resolution and their arguments, they would have us believe that their priority is the rights of victims and the perspective of victims.
Just two days ago, on Monday of this week, a group of victims met here on the Hill. They made a very powerful, a very emotional and a very moving presentation in favour of Bill C-68, urging the Senate to adopt the government's proposals on gun control.
Those victims also have a point of view. The men and women who stood on the Hill on Monday in favour of Bill C-68 are victims too. They want Bill C-68 put in place because they know it is in the best interests of victims and the criminal justice system in this country.
It is the members of the third party who have fought so much against Bill C-68 in the past and continue to do so. Perhaps that is the best evidence of the flawed approach of the members of the third party toward the proposition in which today they pretend so strongly to believe.