Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the bill brought forward by the member for Mississauga East.
To start with, I too would like to congratulate her on her bill since it opens up a part of the Criminal Code. It is important to review it, check a few things and eventually perhaps go along with the member.
I want to say right away that I am in favor of the bill and its being scrutinized by the committee to see—I will go into it in more detail later—whether the bill is in keeping with the Criminal Code, the case law, the Canadian way and especially the Quebec way.
I will remind listeners that the bill provides for the imposition of consecutive sentences where a person commits sexual assault and another offence arising out of the same events or where a person is already serving another sentence at the time.
Moreover, the bill amends the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. This amendment provides that a person sentenced to life imprisonment for first degree or second degree murder is not eligible for parole until the person has served, in addition to the portion of sentence that the person must serve for murder, one third or a maximum of seven years of any other sentence imposed on the person in respect of an offence arising out of the same events. The mandatory portion of each life sentence imposed on a person who is convicted of a second murder must be served consecutively before the person is eligible for parole.
This is all very technical, but those who are somewhat familiar with the Criminal Code will have understood what I said. I will try to shed some light on this during my allotted time.
The seriousness of the offence is one element I take into account when I look at a bill, especially a private member's bill. I try to see what exactly is the intent. This bill deals with the most heinous crimes. Therefore every member of the House should pay close attention to it.
If murder has as a consequence the taking of a life, sexual assault defiles the victim forever. One must look at this offence with a very careful eye and try to see the parallel that exists between various criminal offences.
Sentences given for those crimes must reflect the seriousness of the offence, in light of the circumstances. Imposing a fair and adequate sentence is difficult in that we have to make sure it takes into account the characteristics of the offender, protects the interests of the community, which largely depend on the values it cherishes in a given period, and meets the victim's need for protection and reparation.
The sentencing judge must make sure the sentence is proportionate to the seriousness of the crime and the degree of responsibility of the offender. Bill C-251 raises a fundamental question: Does Canadian criminal law deal adequately with murders and sexual offences, given the seriousness of these crimes? This is an extremely important question, and it deserves an answer.
Incidentally, I would like to tell the House that I am currently working on a bill similar to the one introduced by the hon. member, because I am also of the opinion that sexual offences are very serious. I hope she will return the favour and support my own bill. My goal is to allow judges to take the psychological damage inflicted on victims into consideration in sentencing.
Having said that, I think we could indeed improve the situation now prevailing as far as sentencing for sexual offences goes, because these offences are very serious.
But the Criminal Code already allows judges to impose sentences to be served consecutively. This is in section 718.3(4) of the Criminal Code. This provision deals with sentences for offences in general and not sexual offences specifically. That is probably why the hon. member felt she had to introduce Bill C-251.
She is probably right, and we should add this special provision relating to sexual offences so that judges not only may but are in fact required to impose sentences to be served consecutively. When I say we should see whether that provision is compatible with the Criminal Code or with Canada's case law and way of doing things, I mean that we should see whether this bill deprives judges of a degree of discretion they now have.
At first glance, I honestly and sincerely think “sexual assault” should be added, to send a signal to the public to show that we are taking sexual offences seriously, given that such offences are committee every day, are serious and all too often involve children, who are scared for life by such vicious crimes. In the end, it is society that pays for this at the psychological, medical and other levels.
This clause could include specific provisions on sexual assault, so as to force judges to impose consecutive rather than concurrent sentences as they sometimes do. However, this would take away some of the discretionary power of the courts.
I have some concerns in this respect. I am in favour of the bill. I would like the committee to give very serious consideration to the bill as a whole to determine if the changes proposed by the hon. member would not in fact hinder the smooth operation of the judiciary and infringe on the discretionary powers currently enjoyed by judges.
If we look at how sexual assault and sexual offences against children, women or minors are dealt with by the courts across Canada, in Quebec, Ontario and the other provinces, I think judges do not take this kind of offence seriously enough. There are cases where certain comments made by a judge lead us to question the sentence imposed by that judge.
With this amendment, when there is more than one offence, the judge would have to impose consecutive sentences and we would then be sure that the accused would serve all his time.
The Bloc Quebecois believes that offences against the person must not be taken lightly. Our criminal justice system must consider the seriousness of offences such as sexual assault and murder. We also believe that the establishment of a rule with regard to consecutive sentences for sexual assault should be studied by the Standing Committee on Justice in light of our concern not to unduly limit the discretionary powers of the courts.
The courts are still in the best position to analyze individual cases, but I think that sometimes we have to force the hand of justice. We do it from time to time in certain pieces of legislation. As legislators, it is our duty to do so.
The Bloc Quebecois still wants to issue a word of caution—and it is not necessarily the member but rather the Reform Party that has a tendency to do that—to those who could be tempted to legislate on the basis of an exceptional case such as the tragic case of Clifford Olson. The justice system as a whole must not be judged on the basis of a few exceptional cases.
Again, if we look at the Canadian justice system as a whole, it is a good system. It works well. Naturally, we can try to improve it and I think Bill C-251 is a step in the right direction.
That is why I will co-operate in committee to see to it that this bill is adopted or even to improve it if necessary.