Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for Surrey North asking for the extra 10 minutes.
One of the things that touched me greatly was talking to victims. The member for Surrey North will probably not remember when I first met him. We were talking to some young kids in New Westminster. He was speaking to them and it touched me greatly. Here was a person who was trying to get a system changed from the outside and not in the House of Commons, who knew what he needed and what the problems were, yet it just was not coming together. Who was listening?
One of the frustrating things that happened and why it took so long to get victims rights in legislation in this country is that there was not the comprehension on the other side. The thought on the other side was that we were helping victims by bringing in Bill C-68, the gun law. It was the victim out there who said “Somebody in my family was murdered with a gun, but I am treated like dirt in a courtroom”. Those were the kinds of issues.
I recall sitting at a sentencing hearing. One of the victims in the room was listening to a written victim impact statement she had prepared. She leaned over to me and said “I don't think that is mine”. We found out that the thing had been purged so badly. We asked about it and the defence lawyer said “We had to take certain things out of the victim impact statement because it would harm the credibility of my client” who had murdered her sister. She was asking what rights she had as that guy was protected. Those are the kinds of things victims were asking about.
I have another story. I recall sitting in a room with a lady whose house had been torched by her ex-husband. She asked the system to tell her when her ex-husband would be getting out of prison, where he would be located, how long he would be there, and of any reports on how well he was doing. She was afraid of this fellow. They never told her a thing. And then he showed up with the gasoline and a car and drove through the carport and set the place on fire. She asks “Who cares about me?” That is what victims rights are all about: “who cares about me?”