Mr. Speaker, I will take a few minutes to express some of my feelings and concerns about the area addressed by the bill.
For what purpose do courts issue prohibition orders? They feel under the circumstances it is the adequate action that should be taken to protect society. Probation is a comforting term, an order of probation. It is not unlike mandatory supervision term we hear.
Is it comforting that someone will be released before his or her time on mandatory supervision? The state is to conduct supervision over the person to ensure the safety of the public. We have seen how absolutely useless that type of condition is in protecting the Melanie Carpenters and the Sylvain Leducs from the kind of action the court has surmised will never take place.
I support the bill. If the court issues a probation what is it asking? It is asking the accused person to obey certain requirements: to stay away from bars, perhaps to stay away from the classroom or perhaps to stay away from a spouse who has been subjected to abuse, physical or otherwise. Does the court expect the person will simply obey those orders? What happens if he or she fails to obey? Probation officers do not have the manpower to deal with circumstances late at night. We also know police officers are usually there. At least they are on duty 24 hours a day. The public has access to them in case a probation order is violated.
If a wife realizes her husband is to stay away from liquor under probation and he is at a bar at two o'clock in the morning and she is sitting at home in fear of his attendance, what protection does she have? Should she phone the probation officer? Nonsense. That is impossible. She could phone the police under the circumstances. The police do not have any authority whatsoever to intervene to protect her from her husband even though he is in violation of a probation order set as a result of his violation of her.
I listened to the hon. member across the way speak about the laws being in place now to prevent that. If that were the case we would not be receiving feedback from police officers about the violations of individuals they have brought before the courts and the courts have placed on probation. They have seen the violation of those probation orders and can do nothing about it except to report the situation to the probation officer on Monday morning and if the probation officer has time he will follow it up perhaps two or three weeks later.
This is a common sense response to the cries of the police to give them reasonable tools to prevent crime and criminal acts from occurring. I suggest violation of probation is a criminal act. I do not think anyone will deny that. Why not place within the hands of our peace officers the power to do something about it? Therefore I support the bill.