Madam Speaker, I would like to summarize what we have heard today.
Sadly what I have heard from the justice department are some of the most arcane arguments that are not really relevant to the point I put before the House.
One of the main understandings we have to get with this motion is that it really supports community resolution of these conflicts without having to use a heavy handed approach. In these situations it is contemplated that the warnings are given. Generally if there is some legal sanction that backs up the warning, then alternative dispute settlement actually happens and no one is actually charged in the end because someone would know that if they cross the line then they will be charged. Therefore it positively supports community peace.
One of the other aspects that is often overlooked is around the area of domestic disputes. Restraining orders in themselves are not all that easy to obtain, especially from the supreme court or a provincial legislation such as non-interference with children orders. So the availability in those circumstances is often difficult. Then there is the ongoing viability. A policeman is called and some lady puts an order to the policeman saying she wants it enforced. The policeman does not know if the order is still valid and what the essential jurisdiction of it is. The whole history of these extra court orders to deal with ongoing difficult situations of an identified individual showing up on a premises is very poor.
This legislation would greatly help in that circumstance around child access problems and protecting the peace for children.
One of the other circumstances is public school grounds. Individuals who may be known drug dealers or whatever may not be carrying drugs with them but will come to an elementary school ground, hang around wanting to become familiar with certain children. We have had the circumstance of their trying to ingratiate themselves to individuals. The long term agenda as we know from discovering the circumstances later is that they want to get these children involved in prostitution. School authorities have had great difficulty protecting the sanctity of the public school grounds from these individuals.
I am really upset when I hear this hand wringing, do nothing approach from the justice department. It is just incredible. It fails to reflect the community mood about these obvious breaches of the public peace. The system appears absolutely incompetent to do anything about it.
Having someone lawfully removed in the first place is the trigger for this offence. It is not entered into lightly. Someone would have to be removed for the circumstance involved in the second instance. I believe this is in the public interest to preserve the peace. It is not a draconian measure. It is most reasonable and it does go a long way to preserve the peace and order of the community and especially to protect children.