Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the bill in respect of criminal justice for young persons, at report stage. As a matter of fact, this legislation is better known as the Young Offenders Act.
That legislation has caused much ink to flow over the last several years. It carried various numbers and each time the federal government came up against a solid and strong consensus by Quebec stakeholders. Those stakeholders say that this punitive approach which tends to be very severe toward young people and to punish them by sending them to jail instead of keeping and developing an approach of co-operation and rehabilitation, is unacceptable.
The government says it has to change the model. Yet statistics show that the existing model is working well, that the youth crime rate in Quebec is lower, that rehabilitation is having good results and that recidivism is very low. However, over the last few years, because of the rightist wind blowing from the west and carrying the justice minister who comes from that part of the country and represents a western riding, the federal government steamroller has been obstinately persisting on imposing this model. That is very sad.
After all, the major strength that helped the hon. member for Berthier—Montcalm in carrying the issue so efficiently is that there is nothing better in democracy than knowing that one's cause is directly connected to what people wish and want.
As we have seen in the past and are seeing now, it is not a political party that is opposed to this bill, it is a society. There is in Quebec a society that has developed a model and that wishes to maintain this model. Indeed, we have something that is successful and that is working better than elsewhere.
Societies must be open to other environments. When a good idea is being developed in the rest of Canada, in the United States or in Europe, we can take it and use it in our models. But when we have something that is working very well in Quebec, we would like to use it. We do not want the federal government to barge in order to change the situation and bring us back to a situation that Quebecers do not want. We are seeing this today, we have seen this with the list of people who have supported the legislation and the organizations as well as individuals that are supporting it.
The testimonies we are receiving are from young people who have been through the system. Instead to going to jail, they had the chance of going in close treatment, in environments where they are forced to reflect on their situation. We force them to ask themselves what led to such behaviour. We help them with psychologists, with social workers.
This is not necessarily easier. I think this is the tough solution, the hard road to go, but this is giving them a chance to turn their act around.
The other way is easier. In jail, they learn all kinds of things, things they do not need to know for the rest of their lives and things that lead to unacceptable behaviour.
The human aspect is the most important. I have three children; one 17 year old, another 15 year old and a 10 year old who will soon be 11. I would not like to see my children find themselves stuck in the criminal system for the rest of their life because they had made a mistake. If a young person makes a mistake, I hope he gets an opportunity to correct his behaviour, understand his mistake and what it entails. There is an important educational aspect to the issue. It is refreshing to see that people have understood that.
We often read in the newspapers about the plight of some people. A crime is committed by a teenager and for five days, the media repeat that he has been identified, arrested and then he is brought to trial and goes through all the subsequent stages. People have understood that these are the exception, not the rule.
The rule is that we succeed in rehabilitating our young offenders and making them responsible citizens, people who, in the end, have learned to behave.
The attitude of the federal government should have been more focused on investing money in the system and make a maximum effort. The rest of Canada does not want that system so let us try to find a way to answer their needs. If we want Quebec's system to continue to operate and show good results, we have to invest money in the system and allow Quebec to make the best possible use of available resources for the benefit of teenagers, in order to continue to reduce the crime rate and to get the best possible rehabilitation.
The federal government does not have this attitude, which is surprising. I will mention a few members, such as the members from Québec East, Portneuf, Bellechasse—Etchemins—Montmagny—L'Islet, and Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok; the last two members represent ridings next to mine. What message did these members receive from their constituents for them to say so little?
When it is time to vote, I wonder if they will have the courage to say “Our system in Quebec works well. We will never accept this Canadian model, which does not suit us, which will thwart the efforts that have been made for several years”.
In legislation, principles come into play, but ultimately some resources are also involved. We will end up in a situation where more and more money will be needed for penitentiaries, to deal with the repressive aspect of this legislation, while all that money would have been needed for prevention. There is not a word about that in the bill.
Where are Quebec's federal Liberals in this debate? Why are they keeping so quiet? Is this not an issue on which they will have to vote?
I know I will have a few minutes left that I will be able to use when we resume debate on this bill, but I urge all members in the House to listen carefully to the message that all Quebecers are sending them.