Mr. Speaker, I appreciate having the opportunity to address the debate tonight. I appreciate the hon. member across the way for staying as late as it is and hearing what I have to say. At least we have one over there. If it is all the same, I will go by the rule of Ecclesiastes where it says “The heart of the wise looks to the right and the heart of a fool to the left”. I am going to look directly at you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to start by saying that the hon. member is talking about some very hypothetical situations: what if, what if, and I can understand why he would do that. There is a lot of situations that are rather hypothetical in what would happen. Nevertheless, it is not addressing the problem.
I am sure I will get a reaction from the hon. member by making a couple of comments. There is no doubt in my mind, I say unequivocally, that the charter of rights has set up many barriers to accomplishing good judicial answers in the country.
I concur with the Quebec minister of public security that the federal anti-gang laws are too complex. They are costly and timid in stopping the province's brazen motorcyle gangs. It is a charter of rights involving freedom of association. It should be temporarily suspended in cases of suspected organized criminal activity. I am sick and tired of criminal rights superseding the collective rights of law-abiding citizens. I think on this point Canadians would agree.
I refer to Supreme Court Judge L'Heureux-Dubé's 1997 comments in response to the Feeney case. In her dissenting opinion Justice L'Heureux-Dubé suggested that now that the charter was 15 years old it might be time to reassess the balance courts construct between protecting the individual rights of the accused and preserving society's capacity to protect its most vulnerable members and to expose the truth.
In terms of the most vulnerable members I think of the young people. I think of the number of funerals I attended of students who died from drugs when I taught high school for 22 years back in the eighties and early nineties. It was all part of this problem.
It is high time we opened up the debate the judge is suggesting. We should determine whether or not the charter of rights should be extended to those convicted of committing a crime. I am confident that the charter of rights should be reserved for law-abiding citizens.
The basic rights belong there: the right to a fair trial with an assumption of innocence until proven guilty and the right to an attorney. All basic rights have to be there but once convicted how far will we allow the charter to apply to those convicted people? It constantly puts up barriers and has created the very victims groups the other hon. member mentioned several times tonight.
The victims groups exist because they are not happy with the justice that has been prevailing in the land. CAVEAT, CRY and all such organizations which represent thousands and thousands of Canadians did not organize because they were happy with the justice system. It was just the opposite.
The next item that bothers me is the ongoing rhetoric about how we have given the tools to the police and done all the wonderful things we need to do in order to help them fight crime.
I have a press release of September 15, 2000, about three days ago. Its leading comments are “Less Talk, More Action, Says Canadian Police Association”. It continues:
“This week's shooting of Montreal journalist Michel Auger is yet another example of the scourge of organized crime in our communities”, says David Griffin, Executive Officer of the 30,000 member Canadian Police Association. “While organized criminals conduct their activities with virtual immunity, police are increasingly frustrated and thwarted in their efforts to fight back, due to weak laws, lack of tools, and a woeful lack of the necessary resources”.
It is their press release. It is not mine yet I have heard rhetoric all night about what wonderful things they have done. According to this press release it is nonsense. It continues:
“Canada has gained third world status as a haven for organized criminals,” said Griffin. “The attack on Mr. Auger is just the latest example of the violence and intimidation tactics used by these gangsters.
Our democratic institutions are being threatened by the influence of global criminals. Two Quebec prison guards were murdered, a Member of Parliament and his family were under police protection last fall after the member spoke out, and now a member of the media has been gunned down in an apparent attempt to muzzle his voice. While politicians at all levels continue to point fingers in other directions or promise to do more, the reality on the frontlines is that we are barely fielding a team”.
I repeat, this is the Canadian Police Association. It is not the Canadian Alliance saying that. It says that this government constantly insists that it has given all the tools necessary to do the job. This press release of three days ago is very contradictory to those comments.
Despite the national and international attention that has been drawn to this issue, the Government of Canada has done little to bolster enforcement in order to keep pace with sophisticated organized criminals...We have weak laws, weak budgets, weak technology and little support. Our front-line officers are extremely demoralized. On the other hand, organized criminals have billions of dollars at their disposal and are literally banking on the lack of enforcement resources to track their movements.
Enough of the rhetoric about how much we are doing to help our police force get the job done that they need to do. Let us take a look at the latest report of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada which stated, as reported in the Hill Times :
Virtually every major criminal group in the world is active in this country.
The article goes on to state:
In 1998, RCMP Superintendent Ben Soave, who heads the Toronto-based organized crime squad, warned organized crime groups are trying to corrupt politicians and police with bribes and blackmail. They are a threat to our national security.
In other countries this statement would have been sufficient to appoint a royal commission in order to find a solution to this dangerous problem. Sadly, not in Canada where politicians sit idly by.
Another government organization is saying that this government continually insists that we are happy with the situation. Those are their words, not mine. This is their press release. It is not mine. Hon. members can point their fingers at this party all they want to.
Hon. members should hear this factual story from the Ottawa Sun of April 25, 1999. I will read it to them.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police began tracking the 30-metre pleasure yacht named the Blue Dawn in October of 1997, when it sailed east across the Atlantic Ocean from the quaint Nova Scotia town of Lunenburg...More than 150 officers had worked thousands of extra hours on the investigation, which would become the largest drug bust in British Columbia history. But as the Blue Dawn waited some 400 miles off the B.C. coast in the chilly November air to transfer its treasure of Pakistani hashish onto a smaller vessel, the long and complex RCMP drug sting suddenly hit a snag...we had to tell our officers that they couldn't be paid. There was just no money around to do it. We told them they could complete the operation, but they wouldn't be paid for it...to their credit, (the officers) decided to complete the operation without pay...Had the officers decided not to proceed with the bust, however, nearly 15 tonnes of hash destined for the large cities of eastern Canada would have entered the country...the Blue Dawn was not the first time officers were forced to donate their time. And I don't know how much longer their dedication to busting criminals will carry thus through this financial crisis we're under.
We are asking them to do that for nothing? That is a fact. Check it out. Do not take my word for it. Ask the police about the Blue Dawn, the big sting and all the donated time by police because we have not got the money to pay for it. It is strange that we have money for all kinds of silliness. When we look at the public accounts and the way they spend money on that side of the House, it drives us nuts, yet they cannot afford to pay the police in a major sting operation. What is going on?
To talk about all these problems is not any good without suggesting some solutions. Let me try.
First, monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the anti-gang legislation enacted in 1997. I think there was one conviction but I understand that through plea bargaining that was thrown out; one conviction since 1997.
Second, review the effectiveness of the proceeds of crime legislation.
Third, improve the ability of the police to investigate money laundering and introduce legislation creating new financial reporting requirements for banks regarding suspicious transactions.
Fourth, significantly increase penalties for drug smuggling and trafficking.
Fifth, amend the criminal code to include a penalty for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for people who use minors for drug trafficking and for prostitution. It is high time we socked it to them. Instead we do nothing.
Sixth, increase surveillance and controls along the borders, at ports in Canadian waters and abroad. I stood at the Canadian port in Port Erie and asked the guards what were in the boats that were coming across. They said they did not know for sure. I asked if they had any idea what they might be. They said that if it was one level, it was probably cigarettes. At another level it was probably booze. At another level it was probably people. If it was at another level it could be guns. Who stops them? Nobody.
I watched the boats go the other way to the U.S. Guess what? They did not get half way across the water. There was a patrol that stopped all of them.
Seventh, increase the sophisticated technology to better detect drug shipments. Do that.
Eighth, create a special investigative and tactical unit comprised of RCMP, Customs Canada, national defence, CSIS, solely used for combatting organized crime. Do those things.
The government has been in for seven years. Organized crime has been here longer than that. It has done nothing except implement the anti-gang thing in 1997 which did not accomplish a thing. That is what it has done.