Mr. Speaker, the issue before the House today ought not to be a partisan issue. We are dealing with the question: what should be the appropriate penalty for the worst crime in the Criminal Code and that is first degree murder?
I have sat here all day listening to Liberals attack Reform members, Reform members attack Liberals as if this is a partisan
issue. It should not be a partisan issue. We should look at this issue on the basis of its merits and what is right and just.
There are those who have argued that the maximum period of incarceration should be 15 years. The author of section 745 spoke earlier today. When he was the solicitor general he brought in section 745. He believes that at the 15-year period all convicted killers should have the opportunity to apply for early release. His views are in the extreme minority. Those who suggest that section 745 can somehow be made better, can somehow be made more acceptable, are in the extreme minority if the views of Canadians are looked at.
The overwhelming majority of Canadians want the return of capital punishment. If you extrapolate from that particular poll result it is easy to conclude that an even greater number want the repeal of section 745.
I first became aware of this section of the Criminal Code when I was elected to this House and sat on the justice committee. We started reviewing the criminal justice system. It became abundantly clear to me that section 745 is an example of what is wrong with the criminal justice system when you allow those who commit the most heinous crime in the Criminal Code the opportunity to be released after serving only 15 years. There are of course other issues within the criminal justice system, whether it is the issue of consecutive sentences or the Young Offenders Act, that cause Canadians a great deal of concern.
In particular, section 745 reflects a bleeding heart attitude toward the criminal justice system that is not in keeping with what is fair, just and equitable in a criminal justice system. The Canadian criminal justice system is not just. Section 745 allows convicted killers to make a mockery out of the justice system.
Take the example of Clifford Olson. Everyone agrees that he will never be allowed to be free again yet he is using this section to revictimize, to repunish the survivors of his victims. This is the section that guarantees all convicted killers, and there will be some 600 of them that will be eligible to apply over the next 15 years, the right to apply to have their parole ineligibility reduced.
Over the last number of years I have worked very closely with families of victims, parents of victims and in particular mothers of victims. I have worked very closely with Darlene Boyd, Sharon Rosenfeldt, Debbie Mahaffy, Priscilla de Villiers and many others who have lost children, who have lost daughters to murder.
These mothers of victims make a compelling argument. I only ask members of Parliament to listen to the submissions put forward by these women and the hundreds of others who are survivors of victims as to the reasons why section 745 ought to be repealed, the reasons why section 745 is an unconscionable provision in the Criminal Code of Canada.
We are not dealing with choir boys. We are not dealing with crimes of passion. I have heard arguments put forward such as "what about the abused wife who murders an abusive husband?" We are not dealing with those situations here. Those people are not convicted of first degree murder or for that matter second degree murder.
We are dealing with those people who have characters that say it is okay within themselves to deliberately take the lives of other people, planned and deliberate murder, the worst crime in the Criminal Code.
If we are saying that a period of incarceration of 15 years is an appropriate penalty for first degree murder, what does that say about our society? What does that say about all the other awful crimes in the Criminal Code like rape, the molestation of young children, aggravated assault? All the other crimes become less significant. They become not as bad as murder. If the going rate for murder becomes 15 years, what will the going rate be for raping a child or for raping a woman? What will the penalty be? When we look at the penalty for first degree murder we should look at it in context.
We are not talking about rehabilitation. It really irks me when I hear members talk about rehabilitating a first degree killer. Tell me how. How do we rehabilitate a first degree killer?
Most first degree killers will not kill again. That is fact. Some will, most will not. It is not a question of the protection of society. It is a question of what the appropriate penalty should be for first degree murder.
How does society reflect its abhorrence of this awful crime? We read about them every day. We see them on television. We watch the families of the victims grieve. For them it becomes an unending funeral. To them the pain and suffering never ends.
Section 745 revictimizes them. It retraumatizes them. As one mother told me, it brings back all the awful feeling, the feeling of complete devastation when you are told by a police officer at your doorstep that your child or your husband or your wife has been murdered.
I ask hon. members not to detach themselves from the emotion of what this is all about because it is about emotion. It is about morality. It is about what is right and wrong. Look at this through the eyes of the parents who have lost children to convicted killers.
Is it right, is it just, to drag these families back through the courts after 15 years? Is it right and just and equitable for them to continue to suffer and to allow, whether it be a faint hope or any other hope, for those who have committed these awful crimes?
In my respectful submission, a 25-year prison term is reasonable. A minimum of 25 years is a reasonable period of incarceration in order to reflect society's abhorrence at this type of crime. It
is the moral thing to do. It is right to take away someone's freedom for having denied someone's right to live and for having destroyed not only the life of the victim but the lives of the family and friends those people have killed.
Millions of Canadians support the repeal of section 745: The Canadian Police Association, police officers across the country, correctional workers across the country, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. An overwhelming majority of Canadians want section 745 repealed so that the minimum period of incarceration becomes 25 years. To whom is the government listening when it tinkers with section 745?
We have been elected to the House of Commons to represent our constituents. We are here to represent the best interest of Canadians and what is right and just for the majority of Canadians. To continue to support the inclusion of section 745 in the Criminal Code, in my view, is a breach of the trust that Canadians put in each and every one of us three years ago when they elected us to the House of Commons.
I have tried as an individual member to have section 745 repealed. In fact the House voted to repeal section 745 in principle in December 1994. What has happened to all those members, including over 80 government members, who supported the repeal of section 745 who now will be supporting a bill which merely tinkers with section 745? They will have to reconcile with their constituents their change in vote.
In closing, let me urge the Prime Minister, who has committed himself to parliamentary reform, to allow a free vote on this matter, to allow a free vote on a bill that would repeal section 745. In my view that would go a long way to restoring the trust and confidence that Canadians ought to have in their elected members.