A Liberal member wants me to speak for one minute but the member will get seven minutes and the member will listen. I am trying to say that this goes beyond party lines. There is something amiss in this country. Victims want and need rights. They are not privileges handed down from a government to its people.
Let us look at the core values, the core rights we are looking for. Why not define what a victim is? I sat in a room shortly after a young lady in my riding was murdered. Her mom, Sue Simmons was in very bad shape, understandably so. Sian was murdered, shot to death. Chris, Sian's dad, could not get assistance for Sue, the mother, because she was not considered a victim. Sian was the victim, they said. That is patently wrong. If it is my daughter, my son, my wife, then I am a victim.
The government fails to understand how large this movement is. It is compounding quickly because of the crime in this country.
I sat with five parents on Saturday. They told me that three offenders were trying to get two young girls off the street and into a car. The victims are the two young girls, the parents, the friends, and on and on it goes. The government says that if it is one crime, there must be one or two victims. All those people are victims.
The Liberals are in trouble. These people are joining victims' rights groups. The Liberals cannot understand all the noise, but they will have to because victims need these rights.
Victims must have the right to be informed of what their rights are. That is common sense. There is no need to expand on that any further. So why are we not putting it in legislation?
I heard a lawyer say it is going to cost more money to do that. Take a little money away from the inmates. Take away a few of the grants that the government is giving to its buddies in order to get re-elected. The money should be put where it belongs.
Victims should have the right to be informed of the offender's status throughout the process. What is wrong with that? They should know where he is incarcerated, where he is going and when he is going. They should know the terms and conditions of getting out.
I could tell the House horror stories about what happens when the victim does not know and the perpetrator, after getting out of prison, after changing his name, shows up on the doorstep and beats the living daylights out of the victim who had no idea they were out on parole.
Victims must have the right to submit unrestricted victim impact statements, whether they be oral or written, at sentencing hearings and judicial reviews. The government took that automatic right away from the people with Bill C-45.
I stood in Vancouver and I watched the parents of the victims of Clifford Olson ask for the right to submit a victim impact statement. Good grief, what have we crawled down to in this gutter? We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Victims should be informed in a timely fashion of the crown's intention to plea bargain before it is submitted to the defence. What is wrong with that? How many times have we heard of people walking into a courtroom only to find that what they thought was a first degree murder charge had been changed to an assault charge? The sentence went from life to two or three years.
Give these folks some decency. Listen to what they are saying. Victims should have the right to know if a person convicted of a sexual offence has a sexually transmittable disease. What is wrong with that?
In my riding Tasha would have liked to know that. She was raped by an individual who is not even a citizen of this country. Now he is out of here, thank goodness. This should not have to be something we ask for or go into a prison and beg for; it should be a right. Do not bother with amendments to criminal legislation on that. State it clearly, enunciate it, articulate it.
Victims should be informed as to why charges were not laid if that is the decision of the police. They should be protected from anyone who intimidates, harasses or interferes with their rights. They should have the police follow through on domestic violence charges once a victim files a complaint. That is not much to ask in this country. I am at a sincere loss as to why this Liberal government did not and will not move on it.