Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating my colleague and friend from Surrey North for putting this private member's bill before the House.
I think back to the days when I sat on the justice committee and the hon. member for Surrey North and his wife appeared before that committee when it was dealing with Bill C-37, a bill to amend to the Young Offenders Act. I remember comments that were made after the hon. member and a number of other individuals brought to the attention of members of the justice committee the end results of the behaviour of young offenders. It caused me a bit of concern when a Liberal member of that committee said to me after the hearing that these people brought nothing to the debate other than sentiment.
I think it is very important that all Canadians, including Liberal members, understand that the feelings of Canadians are very important when we talk about legislation. Canadians must feel that they can support the legislation that is put before them by the government.
The private member's bill which the hon. member for Surrey North has introduced is really quite simple, straightforward and easy to understand. He is merely asking that section 7.2 of the Young Offenders Act be made a hybrid offence. That means that there can be a fine imposed or incarceration as part of the sanctions.
Section 7.2 of the Young Offenders Act deals with the responsibility that someone assumes in order for a young offender not to be locked up; in other words, posting bail or whatever we want to call it. It is interesting that the Minister of Justice has obviously seen the merits of this argument. I understand it is part of the new youth criminal justice bill. Therefore, I have to assume, because the government has put it into its own legislation, that it will be supporting this amendment to the Young Offenders Act.
The reason it needs to be supported now and not put on the table until the youth criminal justice bill is passed is very simply this. It is extremely important, knowing the timeframe that some of this legislation takes to get through the House, to have this amendment in place sooner rather than later.
I would suggest to government members who may be looking for an excuse not to support this bill because it is in the government's legislation to deal with the issue. It is obviously supported and it is obviously an important amendment to be made. I am hoping that when the time comes to vote on this bill governments members will be there to support the hon. member for Surrey North.
As I mentioned, the amendment deals with the issue of accountability. People sign undertakings or bonds. There is an acknowledgement or a responsibility for them to live up to what it is they have signed.
It is not just criminal matters where this happens. We run into this situation in immigration. People agree to sign a document indicating that they will sponsor an individual and that they will assume financial responsibility for a person coming from another country, and then they walk away from that responsibility.
This issue is more of a justice issue in that it is a person signing a document which says they will be responsible for the actions of a young offender and that they will make sure the young offender meets the conditions that have been imposed as a condition of their release.
What this private member's bill is doing is showing that if a person has wilfully failed to comply with the conditions they agreed to, then something should happen. There should be some responsibility laid upon them for having failed.
If a parent or guardian is unable to enforce the conditions that are spelled out in section 7, then basically the young offender should not be allowed to remain at large. That is the contract which they have signed.
When a parent or guardian knows that they are not able to control or make sure that the young person is where they are supposed to be, or staying away from friends whom they are not supposed to be mixing with, then the onus should be on the parent or guardian to notify the authorities, who would then take the young person into custody or control them in some other manner.
There is an obligation for parents or guardians to do that. The obligation which they undertook was that if they could not handle the individual they would turn the young person over to the control and authority of the courts.
It really is a question of differentiating. I would suggest that this bill is not trying to nail all parents because they are unable to know where their kids are 24 hours a day. It is aimed at the people who have entered an agreement, a legal understanding, in order that the young person not be incarcerated or held until the court case is heard. It is really earmarked or geared to that specific situation. I do not think that anyone should misunderstand that it is a broader brush, that it tries to deal with all parents in all circumstances.
Canadian taxpayers, the parents and guardians of young people, should realize that we are encouraging and supporting what the youth criminal justice bill or the Young Offenders Act offers, that young people can be released into the custody of parents or guardians.
In most cases that is perfectly all right. It works out fine. However, in those cases where somebody takes on that responsibility and then does nothing to make sure their undertakings are being fulfilled, there is something that can be done about it.
The reason the hon. member is asking for it to be treated as a hybrid offence is to give the courts the ability to put some meat behind their decisions, to put some emphasis on the responsibility that they are handing over to the parent or guardian.
As it is now, because it is a summary conviction and there is not any real penalty or sanction, it is too easy to walk away from that responsibility.
I commend my colleague for bringing this weakness in the legislation to the attention of the House. It is obviously a weakness that the government has accepted needs to be addressed, as it has done exactly that with the youth criminal justice bill.
Again I want to ensure that my colleagues understand that if it is good enough to put in a new act, then it is good enough to support now so that it can at least be in existing legislation rather than waiting for future legislation. We have no idea how long it will take for the new legislation to pass through the House and then the Senate after we have dealt with it.
For those of us who are close to the member for Surrey North it is obvious why this is important. The failure to pass this and put it into legislation can cause situations such as that which happened to the hon. member for Surrey North. His son was murdered by a young offender who was in the custody of his parent. The conditions of his release were not fulfilled. We are all very sympathetic with the reasons this bill was introduced and we certainly support its intention. I urge all government members to support this private member's bill when it is voted upon.