Madam Speaker, as a member of parliament, I find it appalling that I have to rise to defend the Young Offenders Act, effective legislation the government wants to get rid of. Bill C-3 is as useless as it is dangerous. As usual, the government is taking the easy way out to change legislation that is quite successful.
The Young Offenders Act led to a substantial drop in youth crime. Strangely enough, the justice minister gave us very convincing numbers in this regard when she introduced her new bill in May 1998. According to her, youth crime has decreased by 23% since 1991. She also talked about a decrease in violent crimes since 1995.
The Young Offenders Act must be judged by its results and not on the basis of a misconception.
It would be irresponsible to reform youth justice without taking into account all the relevant aspects of this issue. Since it protects certain basic concepts, such as life and physical integrity, the Young Offenders Act plays a key role in consolidating public confidence in our institutions.
Therefore, parliamentarians have the responsibility to respond quickly to concerns expressed by the public by making appropriate legislative amendments if necessary. However, they must first and foremost see to it that the public has the information it needs to have a good grasp of problems as complex as youth crime.
However, the federal justice minister has failed in her duty to provide that information. By campaigning for a stricter law, the minister is wrongly suggesting that the present system is flawed and is using that as an excuse to hide her own lack of leadership. In fact, Bill C-3 shows that it is easier for the Liberal government to sacrifice good legislation than to promote the effective approach it favours.
To properly understand the reason behind the current amendments to the Young Offenders Act, we must go back to the 35th Parliament to look at the first Liberal attempts at turning the Young Offenders Act into a scapegoat.
On April 28, 1994, the current Minister of Health and former Minister of Justice stated in the House that the move to the right responded to election commitments. I scarcely need to point out that these commitments were certainly not aimed at Quebec voters. In fact, it is hardly a well-kept secret that the Liberal Party's intention was to win over the clientele of the Reform in the west.
By passing Bill C-37 at that time, the Liberal government was introducing into the Young Offenders Act a whole series of automatic provisions which would greatly affect the fragile equilibrium of the youth justice system. By allowing 16 and 17 year olds to be automatically referred to the adult court system, this government watered down once again the specific nature of the youth justice system. At the rate things are going, soon the only connection it will have with youth will be in its title.
Continuing in the same vein, in May, 1998, the Minister of Justice introduced her youth justice renewal strategy. In particular, she announced her intention to extend the referrals to 14 and 15 year olds.
All parties involved in Quebec viewed this with alarm. Some asked “Where exactly does the government get the information that stiffer sentences were going to have any impact whatsoever on the crime rate?”
The Quebec stakeholders were bang on. Not only was the reform not necessary, but the solutions being put forward by the minister are misguided and risky.
On March 19, some fifteen organizations from Quebec publicly reaffirmed their opposition to Bill C-68. The Association des centres jeunesse du Québec, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, the Conseil permanent de la jeunesse and the Association des chefs de police et de pompiers du Quebec, to name just a few, held a press conference at which they reaffirmed Quebec's consensus and flatly opposed the Minister of Justice.
The message was a very straightforward one. They told the minister they wanted nothing to do with her bill. They rebutted the minister's claims that her flexible system will allow Quebec to enforce the legislation as it sees fit.
Criminologist Jean Trépanier, a recognized youth crime expert in Quebec, was scathing, when it came to the minister's much-touted flexibility. At the press conference, he said “The so-called flexibility seems to be a political trick. Quebec's judges cannot ignore sentences handed down in other courts”.
Cécile Toutant, another very respected voice from Quebec, also took aim at certain of the bill's measures. This criminologist, who is responsible for the youth program at the Pinel institute, condemned the new measures allowing for the automatic imposition of adult sentences on 14 and 15 year olds. According to Ms. Toutant, the time served in jail has nothing to do with the protection of the public.
A very large coalition in Quebec is opposing Bill C-3. The youth justice coalition now includes about 20 organizations that work with young offenders.
Those who will have to live on a day to day basis with the new legislation do not care about the concerns of this election-minded Liberal government. They are the ones who will have to implement the new act. The spokesperson for Quebec's youth centres association was very clear when he said that if the bill is passed, we will have a real mess.
Quebecers do not want that mess. Therefore, we will strongly oppose Bill C-3, which is a prime example of lack of political courage.