Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on Bill C-27. This is one of the few times the Minister of Justice has put together legislation that goes somewhat in the right direction.
Looking back over the last few years, much from the Department of Justice was based on the bleeding heart mentality of the Liberals. One might say they had no sense of direction and no sense of putting public safety as the number one priority, certainly not a reflection of mainstream Canadian values.
With Bill C-37, which amends the Young Offenders Act, the minister was too lenient, providing more rights it seems to the offender than to victim. The minister had an opportunity to lower the age limit in the Young Offenders Act, something the majority of Canadians were pressing for, but he left the age alone simply to perhaps please the bleeding hearts. Now we have more committee study.
With Bill C-68, an act respecting firearms and other weapons, the minister could not demonstrate that a ban on guns would put a stop to crime. Time will tell how this bill did nothing to curb violent crime involving weapons. Certainly this will be the minister's legacy, much about disruptive cost, very little to do with public safety.
Bills C-41 and C-33, the two bills which included the term sexual orientation into both the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, prove the minister is all for giving special status to certain groups instead of providing equal protection for all.
I am talking about the track record in the context of this bill. The track record of this minister is enough to single handedly perhaps undermine Canada's justice system. Where are we going? When I am back in my riding one of the comments I often hear is "do not let the justice minister get away with the softening of crime".
People are generally afraid in their communities. They are afraid that criminals seem to have more rights than the average Canadian citizen. They are afraid knowing that sections of the Criminal Code like 745 are giving mass murderers like Clifford Olson at least a glimmer of hope of being released before their sentence is up.
Specifically on this bill today, the government could have repealed section 745 but it did not. One of the markers of this minor criminal justice bill is significantly what is not in it and what could have been in it rather than what is.
Many Canadians have written to the minister and have submitted countless petitions asking for the repeal of section 745, yet nothing has been done because the minority of bleeding hearts in this country are maybe supporting the Liberals. They know they are tied to special interest. Therefore because of political manoeuvring and expediency, the safety of Canadians is continuing to be put in jeopardy.
I think we should expect more from our justice minister, after all he is the justice minister for our whole country. We look to him for guidance in being able to put a climate of laws in place to protect the community. We should expect him to represent the grassroots of ordinary communities and not special interests.
The minister says he does respect the grassroots, except his legislation he almost always proves the opposite to be true. In view of what is not in this bill, who then does have the ear of the justice minister? It certainly does not appear to be the ordinary Canadian.
Yes, I did say almost always. In my riding of New Westminster-Burnaby, for example, prostitution is a serious problem, as is the case in most of the larger Canadian cities. Prostitutes gather for a time in one given area until a group of concerned citizens pushes them away. Except they do not really go away, they simply move to the other side of the tracks or another part of town.
While Bill C-27 goes in the right direction in this matter and respects some of the wishes of the grassroots, it again, in the typical pattern I have pointed out, does not go far enough. Like most Liberal bills, stricter penalties are frowned on. Sadly this is what communities really want.
In concert with helping programs, we need a climate of legal control so they can operate successfully. It is all a matter of balance and the courage to act. This bill deals with prostitution as a problem but it does not go far enough.
In September 1994, I recall when New Westminster activist Neil Douglas put together a group of neighbours who were frustrated with finding used condoms and needles lying around in his community, not to mention the indecent acts that were happening right in the middle of the street. This group set up a campaign to stop the Johns from picking up prostitutes in their local area. They would set up all night vigilance in areas frequented by prostitutes in an effort to shame the Johns, and the campaign did work. It was citizen action, not certainly will the help of our legal climate, except for one problem. When the New Westminster group drive the prostitutes out of their area, the prostitutes migrate over to my neighbouring city Burnaby. Then a Burnaby watch group does a similar action, takes over and drives the prostitutes back to New Westminster. This is going on back and forth.
Citizens are understandably frustrated. Unfortunately the lack of resources from local police and the lack of the appropriate legal climate makes residents take matters into their own hands. This is when the whole issue becomes much more serious. This is why the Criminal Code needs to be changed to reflect the needs of society.
In March of this year I introduced a private member's bill, Bill C-248, which would make changes to section 213 of the Criminal Code. The way it currently stands every person who in a public place or any place open to public view stops or attempts to stop a motor vehicle, impedes the free flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or stops any person for the purposes to communicate to engage in prostitution is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Since my community is plagued with this problem, I went to it to ask for possible solutions. One that came up time after time was to stiffen the penalty. I proposed that in my private member's bill. It would make the penalty for communicating an indictable offence liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
This would allow the judge greater freedom from the current penalty of simply applying a summary conviction offence. It makes the offences electable and permits greater latitude for police discretion to arrest and to identify.
In March 1995 a consultation paper was prepared by the working group on prostitution, a group established in 1992 by the federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers responsible for justice. The report suggested exactly what I proposed in Bill C-248 and suggested making section 213 of the Criminal Code a dual procedure or hybrid offence.
I want to read what the committee said for the reasons for such a suggestion:
This option would give the crown the choice of proceeding by way of summary conviction or on indictment if prostitutes or their customers were arrested under section 213. It would provide a higher maximum penalty if the crown chose to proceed by indictment and would also allow fingerprints and photographs to be taken upon arrest. Being able to take fingerprints upon arrest would help the police and the courts enforce the legislation by minimizing the use of false identity especially by repeat offenders.
Prostitutes, particularly youths and runaways who could be identified, could be assisted in leaving the sex trade. This option might help programs for deterring street prostitution when those programs depend on knowing the identities of people in the sex trade.
On November 27, 1989 Superintendent Jim Clark of the morality bureau of Metropolitan Toronto Police testified at a House of Commons justice standing committee: "Being able to fingerprint and photograph suspects would help police locate out of town runaways age 13 to 15 who are engaged in prostitution and to clear the large backlog of outstanding arrest warrants against prostitutes who have been able to use false identities with impunity".
There are only two ways police would be able to fingerprint a prostitute charged with solicitation.