Mr. Speaker, I guess I have a very different point of view from that of the member for Vancouver East or I would not have seconded the motion by my colleague, the member for New Westminster--Coquitlam--Burnaby.
I have witnessed some things in the last few years that I find very disturbing. I believe this private member's bill will help to rectify those things.
One of those was the government's decision a few years back to drop the bona fides as they are referred to on refugee claimants or immigration claimants for exotic dancers. As I recall at the time the reason given was that it was too much paperwork.
It is a very easily proven fact that a lot of the women who were brought in for positions as exotic dancers were in fact brought in for the sex trade. That has continued and there has been nothing done to stop it.
If my colleague's private member's bill were to pass and the government could obtain fingerprints, it would solve a lot of problems. Not only would it solve a lot of problems for those women who are being brought in for the sex trade, but it would also solve a lot of problems for many parents in this country.
As a mother I have been very fortunate as my children have never caused me any difficulty at all. I cannot imagine being put in a position where my child has run away from home. If my child had run away from home and I was one of these parents wondering what had happened, knowing that my child was out there somewhere probably involved in the sex trade, the fact that my child could be fingerprinted under this proposed legislation would give me great comfort. There would be a way to trace the child. There would be a way to find out if the child had been arrested for prostitution or where the child was. That would allow for intervention.
I have very few concerns about the points made by the parliamentary secretary of the possibility of the sentence going from one year to five years. If we look at the way sentencing is being done for horrid crimes, the sentences are very light and inconsequential. I do not really think we are going to have problem with the judicial system suddenly deciding that if a person has been picked up for prostitution and is fingerprinted, that the person is now going to get a sentence of five years. In some cases if that were to happen it actually might be a life saver for the women. They would have an opportunity to be educated to do something other than prostitute themselves when they went back out into society. However, I do not think that is going to be a concern. I think the sentencing will remain at one year or less.
Going back to what I was saying about the children, that is the reason I support the bill wholeheartedly.
My colleague from Vancouver East mentioned the 50 women who have been found in her riding. What a horrid tragedy. The bill probably would not have prevented those women from being killed but it might have.
If the women had been arrested and fingerprinted and one of their friends had gone to the RCMP and said “Mary is missing”, the RCMP could have started to look for Mary long in advance. They could have ruled out a few things and perhaps Mary and many of her friends would not have been killed. That may be stretching it a little, but I like to think that there would have been some sort of mechanism if the bill was in place to help protect those women from what happened to them.
Regardless of the outcome, I am going to support the bill. In my opinion, the fingerprinting and the photographing of prostitutes who are picked up would be a great help to parents. That is why I will support the bill.
If we can do anything to help parents find children who have run away and maybe give the children the opportunity to turn around and make a life for themselves, then I support it.