Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part today in what I believe is a very important debate on a piece of legislation that will affect our society as a whole. I know that my constituents have been asking for this legislation.
The youth criminal justice act recognizes that the protection of the public, people like you and I, Mr. Speaker, and our families and loved ones, must be the main objective of any effort to renew the youth justice system.
This new act is a balanced approach to replacing the Young Offenders Act. It takes steps to address society's concern about violent and repeat youth crimes, as well as the need for a system that promotes accountability, respect, responsibility and fairness.
However, it goes beyond punishing offenders as the Reform Party would have us do. It promotes crime prevention. It offers alternative sentencing methods. It provides for rehabilitation in order to prevent repeat offences. Quite simply, just a punishing will not fulfil these needs.
This legislation is part of the youth criminal justice strategy which focuses on three key areas. The first is prevention, to address the root causes of crime and to encourage community crime prevention efforts. The second is meaningful consequences that hold young offenders accountable, help them to understand the impact of their actions and allow them to make good on the harms they have done to both their victims and the community. The third and very important component is rehabilitation and reintegration to ensure that youth who have committed an offence receive the treatment and have access to the programs they need to prevent them from reoffending.
I believe that this focuses not only on punishment but also on prevention. Rehabilitation is extremely important. I agree with many of my colleagues in the House of Commons, and many of my constituents in Guelph—Wellington, that breaking the law must have serious consequences. However, it is my hope that the prevention measures contained in the youth criminal justice act will help to lower the youth crime rate and therefore prevent years of grief for the offender, the victim and the community.
I feel that rehabilitation is extremely important. All too often we see a pattern by young offenders. This act will help to break that cycle of jail and crime and jail and crime and jail, by giving young offenders access to counselling and other programs that will help them to understand that the law must be upheld, not broken, and that they can and will be valued members of society if they are willing to contribute to society in a constructive manner.
Programs that help to rehabilitate, supervise and control youth as they return to their communities help to protect the public because these programs help to prevent further crimes. This is something we can all be happy about. This component in Quebec has been extremely positive. We in all parts of Canada want to work on those successes.
As mentioned previously, where crimes do occur I believe that there must be meaningful consequences. I applaud my colleague, the Minister of Justice, on her move to ensure that these consequences are proportionate to the seriousness of the offence. It is very frustrating for a society to see any offender receive a sentence that does not equate with the crime committed.
The changes proposed in the youth criminal justice act will help to ensure that justice is done. For example, the age at which a youth can be tried in adult court will be lowered from 16 to 14 years of age. Those who are convicted and receive an adult sentence will have their names published. Their records will be treated as the records of adult offenders.
These measures are not aimed at putting children in jail or at ruining their lives but rather at ensuring that serious crimes have serious consequences. Less serious offences could receive community based sentences that will help both the offender and the community to recover and move on.
In all cases youth will face consequences that promote responsibility and accountability to the victim and to the community, as well as to reinforce the values of society by helping the offender to understand the impact of his or her actions.
I will take a few moments to highlight some of the changes proposed in the youth criminal justice act because I feel they are important changes which are worth noting. The youth criminal justice act will establish a more efficient process. It gives the courts the power to impose adult sentences where serious crimes have been committed. This change, while respecting the due process of rights of the accused, also relieves the burden facing victims and their families.
The offences for which a young offender could be raised to adult court have been expanded to include a pattern of convictions for serious and violent offences. As a parent and a member of the Guelph—Wellington community this change gives me great peace of mind. I feel it goes a very long way toward ensuring that our streets remain safe. Victim impact statements will also be introduced.
Another important change that I would like to highlight is the provision for harsher penalties for adults who willfully fail to comply with an undertaking made to the court to supervise youth who have been denied bail and placed in their care. When the court places a young offender in an adult's care that adult is accepting the very serious responsibility of ensuring that youth in his or her care complies with the court's orders. This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.
This measure responds to a proposal made by my colleague, the hon. member for Surrey North, and I would like to commend him for his efforts on this issue. I personally feel that this is a very important measure that sends a very strong message to parents. The role that they play in bringing a young offender to justice is an important one and parents must continue to play an active role in helping their children to become productive members of society.
I would also like to point out that the youth criminal justice act provides for new ways to deal with minor offences. Some young people are brought into the formal justice system for minor offences that are not always best dealt with in a traditional manner. The changes proposed in the bill establish a range of informal programs and alternatives for less serious offences. These new consequences will still be meaningful, but may not necessarily involve jail time. Instead, they focus on ways to repair the harm done to the community and to the victim.
Serious offences will still be dealt with through the formal court process. The youth criminal justice act is a key component of the federal government's youth strategy. I believe this strategy will be a success because it involves partners at every level of government as well as in the community: provincial and municipal governments, law enforcement officials, members of the legal profession, social service and child welfare agencies.
Over the last few years the Guelph police service has moved to a more community based, inclusive approach to law enforcement. It has been extremely successful. It has been so successful because the community as a whole now feels that it has a greater role to play in protecting our society. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Guelph police service for all of its wonderful work. Guelph—Wellington is lucky to have such a talented and dedicated police force.
I believe that the youth criminal justice act helps to ensure all of these things: a justice system that promotes accountability, fairness, respect, new measures aimed at crime prevention which include the community as a whole, meaningful consequences when crimes are committed, and programs that help to rehabilitate the offender while easing the pain of the victim and society. I am very pleased to see that these changes are talking place.
The public, the victims and I want the bill. To do anything less would be wrong.