Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Senator Joyce Fairbairn, along with the Solicitor General and members of criminal justice associations, launched "Between the Lines", an information kit on literacy and crime prevention which points out ways in which we can make a difference in reducing crime in our modern society.
The answer to crime does not lie only in building more prisons or adding more police. The answer lies also in a combined effort by everyone in reducing and eliminating the social inequalities and injustices that contribute to crime in the first place.
We already see the tragic consequences of crime in our federal penitentiaries. The majority of offenders who enter our federal correctional institutions have poor academic skills. Many are unable to read a newspaper or a comic book or follow a simple set of instructions.
The literacy program Between the Lines will make a fundamental and lasting contribution to the prevention of crime and the reduction of illiteracy in Canada.