Madam Speaker, it is my turn to rise in opposition to this bill.
I listened intently to the member opposite who said that the bill reflected the Canadian reality well and respected Canadian values. It is quite surprising, when one looks at the statistics, to find out that the situation is completely the opposite of what the member just said: the crime rate has actually declined.
The Bloc Quebecois is a reflection of Quebec society. And this society, through a coalition, is expressing its opposition to this bill. Even if others members have already listed them, I believe it is important to name the various groups in this coalition to show representative it is.
There is the Commission des services juridiques, the Conseil permanent de la jeunesse, the Centrale de l'enseignement du Québec, the École de criminologie de l'Université de Montréal, the Centre communautaire juridique de Montréal, the Fondation québécoise pour les jeunes contrevenants, the Institut Philippe-Pinel, the Association des chefs de police et pompiers du Québec, the Conférence des régies régionales de la santé et des services sociaux, the Association des centres jeunesse du Québec, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, the Bureau des substituts du procureur général du ministère de la Justice du Québec, the Association des CLSC et des CHSLD du Québec, the École de psychoéducation de l'Université de Montréal, the Regroupement des organismes de justice alternative du Québec, the Ligue pour le bien-être de l'enfance du Canada, the Association canadienne pour la justice pénale, the Association des avocats de la défense du Québec and the Société de criminologie du Québec.
This makes a great many people who think this bill is nonsense. Let us first look at the facts. Statistics from Statistics Canada or other bodies—the justice minister is aware of these—show that, between 1991 and 1997, the number of young people charged has dropped by 23%. It did not go up, it did not stay the same, it went down by 23%.
Charges against young people for violent crimes has dropped by 3.2% since 1995. Young Canadians convicted of criminal offences are incarcerated at a rate four times higher than adults, and twice as high as American youth. What is the government trying to achieve? It wants to go even further. It makes no sense.
Let us look at the numbers for one year. In 1997, the rate of police reported crime decreased for the sixth year in a row, falling 5%. This decline resulted in the lowest rate since 1980.
Rates decreased for almost all violent offences, including sexual offences, which stand at 0.9%. Robberies dropped by 8%, homicides by 9%. The number of young people charged with Criminal Code offences is down 7%, which is consistent with the general downward trend recorded since 1991. The number of young people charged with violent offences has dropped by 2% for the second year in a row. It should also be noted that the majority, or 53%, of charges against young people involve property crimes, while 20% involve violent crimes.
Violent crime is down and yet the minister persists with her bill. Violent crimes include homicide, attempted murder, physical assault and sexual assault, other sexual offences, kidnapping and robbery. The rate of such crimes decreased by 1.1% in 1997. Not too impressive, at first glance, but this is the fifth consecutive year.
The number of young people charged with crimes of violence has gone down for the second year in a row. It dropped by 2% in 1997. In the course of the last decade, the number of young people charged with homicide has remained relatively stable at approximately 50 a year. The national homicide rate dropped 9% in 1997, reaching its lowest level since 1969.
We could go on and on citing statistics, but I want to get back to the remarks of the member opposite, who said that the government was responding to Canadian reality.
If that is what the bill was doing, it should be geared down, because things are improving. The youth crime rate is decreasing, but tougher measures are being introduced. What a reaction.
The arguments are political in nature. The statistics show an increase in the crime rate the further west one goes. It would seem that the crime rate is higher in certain areas of the country. The Reform Party members, coming from the west, are reacting to this state of affairs.
The Minister of Justice, probably with an eye to re-election, is taking account of the political climate that exists in that region of Canada. She is, however, the Minister of Justice for all of Canada. In Quebec, all the organizations I named at the beginning of my speech are opposed.
The Quebec justice minister, who represents my riding, has been fighting a battle this is far from over and will only be when the federal justice minister withdraws the bill. The Quebec minister introduced an amendment that could somehow exempt Quebec from this bill, but this amendment was not considered in order.
Despite all the representations made and the support given by all Quebec organizations involved in this area, Ms. Goupil was not able to bend the will of the federal justice minister. Apparently, ideas from Quebec are not as good as if they came from western Canada, which is closer to her. She wants to get re-elected.
It is unfortunate that bodies of public opinion that may prevail in a particular region or are fuelled by the media can influence justice to such an extent.
I sometimes jump in my seat, in the morning, when I read the first seven or eight pages of some newspapers. We see pictures. Not those of young offenders, of course, because it is not allowed in Quebec. So far, it has not been allowed elsewhere in Canada either. But what does this bill intend to do? This bill will do away with this anonymity. It is going the other way.
I am not saying that this is what the minister intends to do. I certainly hope it is not, but there seems to be a shift toward publishing the pictures of young offenders under the age of 18 in certain newspapers, in Quebec and in Canada, with all the consequences this could have on their families.
In my youth, I was taught a number of basic principles that I never forgot. We must remember what our parents taught us. The other day, I was talking about the catechism, which sets out the nature of a mortal sin. Three conditions must be met. It must be a serious offence, committed with full awareness. They must also be wilful consent. Is a 12 or 14 year old fully aware of the seriousness of what he is doing? No. Who in the House has not, in his or her youth, done something rather stupid, something that he or she regrets now?