It is shameful, and I never thought when I came up here in 1993 that I would ever have to stand in the House of Commons on behalf of a tiny child and ask my colleagues on the government side to make the right decision.
As I have stated before, when I brought up the Charter of Rights and Freedoms one other time in the House of Commons, a lot of my colleagues on the government side said I would never get an amendment to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms putting in responsibilities because no one would allow any constitutional changes. It is now the time if the courts are to dictate to us what is right or wrong for the children of Canada, for those little innocent babies out there. If anyone in the House had seen those videos and pictures, I do not believe they would ever vote in favour of this legislation without amendments.
The contention is that section 1 limits are justifiable in this case and are correct when weighed against the potential harm to children and the intent of Parliament to protect the rights of those most vulnerable. Simply put, it is my belief that the Supreme Court erred when it favourably interpreted the Shaw decision. Unfortunately, it seems that the minister's lawyers have weighed the rights of the individual against the rights of the child. We are once again left with an attempt to correct what the Canadian public realizes is a very serious problem.
If Liberal members are unwilling to protect the rights of children and, by extension, their families, I suggest that at the very least they take the opportunity presented in the upcoming budget to consider financially supporting victims of crime.
The Progressive Conservative Party has been supportive in the past of the law enforcement community, victims' groups and child advocates who are constantly tasked and constantly struggling with the lack of resources available to them. As I have said before, what could be a more fundamental issue? We know that the lasting impact on victims of sexual abuse is sometimes a life sentence. Very often, the mental anguish and the detrimental effect on the development of young people is everlasting. It is certainly incumbent upon Parliament to take every available opportunity to make this a safer and kinder society.
There is a need for victims to have more support, a stronger voice, an ability to be heard in a substantive way by the individuals who ultimately will decide whether a person will be incarcerated and, after the fact, whether that person will be released. It talks directly to the issue of respect for the dignity of victims. It is clear that there has to be an equitable approach taken by the government. That is why we need a victims' ombudsman office, an idea that was brought up today by my colleague from Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough.
We have a budget specifically set aside for the commissioner of corrections to deal with the concerns, some legitimate, some not, of federal inmates. There is a federal budget allocated to ensure that inmates, some of whom are serving time for absolutely heinous crimes and have victimized numerous citizens, have an office where they can go if their situation in prison is not to their liking. Yet victims very often are completely ignored and they have no outlet, no central office in the country where they can go to find out about important things like parole hearings or information pertaining to response to treatment.
While we debate the merits of this bill, elevating the philosophical discussion of public good, it becomes evident that this legislation is a far cry from solving the problems associated with the Shaw decision. For the sake of children, every member on the government side and in the House of Commons must do better. They have the ability to make a substantial difference in the lives of all victims in the upcoming budget. I cannot believe that any one of us would want to sit here and allow a child or a young person to be abused in the manner in which they are being abused at the present time. Because of the decision brought down in the Robin Sharpe trial, I have to say that now offenders have the freedom to do just about anything. There is no way that in this country called Canada we should ever allow this to continue.