Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today on behalf of my riding of Edmonton East to victims rights.
I wish to compliment the minister on the comments she made in the press conference which clearly gave recognition to the Reform Party for its efforts in pursuing changes to address victims rights. I extend congratulations to my colleagues from Surrey North and Langley—Abbotsford. I also want to thank the minister for her very frank statement that this is not the end of victims rights reform but just the beginning, as we all explore better ways to address the issues and concerns.
It is with this in mind that I wish to speak about serious concerns of victims and potential victims of a recent heinous phenomenon, home invasions. Does this bill address the concerns of these victims? Not nearly enough. It contains only very minor rejigging of procedure. While the bill is desirable, it falls short of real reform to address the concerns of these victims, let alone being a serious deterrent.
It is a sad commentary on our society when police must advise us never to open our doors unless we can see who is knocking and unless we know who that person is. As the police reported in one Canadian home invasion, the victim made that one mistake. He opened the door because he could not see who it was through the peephole.
Anyone at any time can be the victim of a home invasion. The elderly are described as the victims of choice.
There have been at least seven home invasions in Edmonton so far in 1999, resulting in serious injuries. There were only 10 in all of last year. They terrorize the occupants and expose them to the traumatic experience of forced entry with the intent to hold the occupants hostage. People are the target of home invasions. Victims are tortured into giving up property.
In committee the Reform Party, with the support of other opposition parties, asked the federal government to study this growing problem as it affects citizens in what should be their safest place, their home. The hon. member for Winnipeg South said that the idea was silly and not worthy of government concern.
I would fully support any study that would help to ensure the safety of Canadians in their own homes. I would also remind the hon. member for Winnipeg South that one recent home invasion I read about took place in his own riding.
Police say that we can combat home invasions by knowing our neighbours. Since most home invaders are caught due to phone tips, much more is needed now and not later.
The Criminal Code needs to be amended to provide tougher sentences for people involved in home invasions, and even better, to create an entirely new offence of home invasion.
At present most home invaders are charged with breaking and entering. Convicted offenders often do not go to jail. Multiple charges associated with home invasion are plea bargained away or have sentences concurrently served with other charges. In short, no additional punishment is given for home invasion.
Exceptional crimes require exceptional measures. We must raise the price of home invasion to properly reflect the heinous nature of the crime.
A while ago in Edmonton three young offenders broke into the home of victim Barb Danelesko and knifed her to death.
While the seven home invasions this year have yet to result in any deaths, I consider that luck more than anything. Home invasions are typically brutal and intrusive like no other crime, with hostage taking lasting for hours at a time.
There have been at least seven home invasions in Edmonton so far in 1999. In January a 55 year old victim was hospitalized with a gash to his head.
In January, on an Edmonton Sunday afternoon, masked gunmen charged through an unlocked back door of a home looking for drugs. They took money. The police called it home robbery rather than home invasion, although I cannot see the difference, and neither do many of the police officers who say that home invasion should be a separate offence under the Criminal Code in order to track the magnitude of the problem.
In February of this year an Edmonton family was victimized and terrorized, tied up, and their home was ransacked by two gunmen. In February another Edmonton family was held hostage in their home for 16 hours.
In March an Edmonton victim was cut on the hand and head when he struggled with armed robbers committing a home invasion. In that case police are looking for three suspects in their late teens to early twenties.
In March, in Camrose, police arrested two youths, aged 16 and 17, in connection with the home invasion of a 69 year old victim the previous December. In her own home the woman was knocked to the ground, her face bruised by a masked intruder who broke in and stole various items. Robbers do not wear masks if they expect nobody to be home.
In Vancouver police believe that since 1995 two or three people have been responsible for the invasion of 31 homes occupied by the elderly, with 13 or almost half of these home invasions occurring in the last four months. During one of these home invasions a 79 year old victim was murdered.
In Melfort, Saskatchewan an 80 year old victim died subsequent to a home invasion on Christmas Eve, 1998. The man was beaten and tied after answering his front door and lay on his living room floor for 18 hours before being discovered. Because he died two months after the home invasion, police decided that the beating did not contribute to his death. The home invader, 29 years old, remains charged only with robbery and unlawful confinement. That is so even though it is accepted that trauma from any assault, particularly if experienced by an elderly victim, has long lasting affects.
In Merritt, B.C. an 80 year old victim was murdered in 1998 during the course of a home invasion by an 18 year old who is now charged with first degree murder. The victim had his hands and feet bound and was forced to lie on his bed. He was covered by a chest of drawers and his walker.
Near Lac La Biche a mother and daughter found themselves fleeing into the freezing cold after two strangers kicked in the door of their farmhouse at 2.30 in the morning. The daughter suffered from frostbite on her feet.
In Winnipeg this March a 17 year old victim was working at home on his computer. In the early afternoon a stranger knocked and three youths appeared shortly afterwards through the unlocked rear door, cut the telephone cord, tied the youth up, put a knife to his throat and fled with a small amount of money and jewellery.
The B.C. government has offered a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of home invaders in Vancouver. The reward has recently been increased to $100,000. The Vancouver police department has formed a specialized home invasion police task force which has been given a blank cheque for whatever equipment and resources it requires. In March the attorney general of British Columbia appointed a specialized prosecutor just to deal with home invasions.
Last week there was an unbelievably horrendous home invasion, brutal beating and robbery of a 79 year old decorated World War II veteran, Robert Delaney, and his 78 year old wife Betty. Mr. Delaney is currently hospitalized in Halifax in critical condition as a result of the attack. The victims were attacked in their home, allegedly by 20 year olds and one 14 year old who have been arrested and charged.
The courts must take a hard line on home invasions. Mr. Delaney is a veteran of the famed Black Watch of Montreal and was decorated by the government at war's end for outstanding acts of bravery.
This Halifax home invasion came during the same week that Canada's World War I valour at Vimy Ridge was being commemorated in the House of Commons. Veterans who have fought and died for our freedom are now confronted with violent and lawless youth, the products of years of disrespect for history and country, as their aggressors.
Canada's education system has done an abysmal job of educating youth about the contributions of our war veterans. Canada's veterans ought not be targets of crime but rather be highly regarded and respected. This proud World War II veteran survived the wrath of Nazi Germany but he might not survive the cowardly attack by Canada's young criminals hiding behind antiquated laws and a void of victims rights.
I commend Alberta Justice Minister Jon Havelock who has been an advocate of reforming the process used to pick our supreme court judges. He is right in saying that they should not be picked based on their relationship with the Prime Minister. I will focus on Mr. Havelock's comments on home invasions. He could not have said it better: “Breaking and entering a residential home is not just a property offence”.
He addressed the heinous nature of this crime within the Alberta legislature and has noted that his counterparts in Manitoba and Ontario have done the same. All of them are calling for action from the justice minister. So too am I.
We can only speculate as to why home invasions are becoming more commonplace, but for the criminals there are some comparable advantages. As opposed to an act of assault and robbery in a shopping mall, the criminal has hours instead of minutes to commit the crime. The criminal is concealed from others behind closed doors. The crime's punishment under the present justice system is no different whether it is in the home or in the mall. Commonly sentences are served concurrently, not consecutively.
Home invasions are a particularly loathsome act of cowardliness generally targeting the very young, very old and the weak in a diabolically sinister fashion. Perpetrators first determine if the people are at home, plan an assault to gain entry and take hostage of the victims. Generally physical abuse and torment of the victims are involved along with a robbery and wanton destruction of the home's contents. All of this takes place behind the closed door of somebody's home, their sanctity from the evils of the street.
The institution of victims rights goes hand in hand with criminal justice system reforms. While victims rights are an after the fact privilege long overdue, fully implemented they would impact crime and the prevention of crime. Much more is needed in terms of both victims rights and reform of the justice system.
As we speak news is tragically unfolding in Denver, Colorado, as the United States is facing its legacy of ineffective laws that fail to control violence among others. A school invasion is taking place by armed youths. An armed assault is being made and students are being held hostage. Many deaths have occurred. Hundreds of direct and indirect victims have just been created and the event is still not under control.
Victims rights and criminal reform are not just a Canadian problem but a global problem. Canada could do well by leading the way. This is the challenge of the future. The bill is the beginning of victims rights and deserves to be supported for that.