Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating my colleague, the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles and the Bloc's justice critic for introducing this motion and working so diligently to ensure that it reflects the wishes of all the parties in the House.
I must say that, in the history of the Bloc Québécois, the effective and intelligent struggle is constitutional, as our colleague from Abitibi—Témiscamingue has demonstrated. It must be said right away—and I will return to this as well—that it is a matter not just of an effective and intelligent fight against organized crime but of a fight that should be consistent with the constitutional guarantees, of which, at the top of the list, may be found the right to be presumed innocent, with all that implies in procedural terms, as the Supreme Court did.
I was saying that, in the history of the Bloc Québécois, we were able—whether it was my old colleague, Michel Bellehumeur, or other colleagues, such as the member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—to take an interest very early in the history of our party in the struggle against organized crime. We will all recall that very publicly. Of course, people a little older than I will no doubt remember the CIOC. There was a bit of a lull in public opinion. However, what catalyzed a heightened awareness of the extent to which organized crime was threatening our communities was certainly the car bomb attack on August 9, 1995, ten years ago already, in Adam St. in Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, killing young Daniel Desrochers. We know that this meaningless attack was related to a motorcycle gang war, in which there had been 147 deaths and 150 attempted murders.
These were important issues in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and even 2000. They were so important, in fact, that the Bloc Québécois devoted one of its opposition days in 2000 to the formation of a special committee of the Standing Committee on Justice, on which I sat along with Mr. Michel Bellehumeur, who has been elevated to the bench. We are all familiar with his talent and persistence. At the time, 13 recommendations were made, all related to the issue of gangs.
My colleague just recalled Bill C-24, but we must first remember that it took three years before we got an anti-gang law. I must say that the Bloc Québécois played an extremely important part in this. The first anti-gang act, which had been Bill C-95, did not work. Why not? Because five people who had committed five crimes punishable by five years in prison, in other words serious crimes, were needed.
Law enforcement agencies were telling us that in the branches in 1995, 1996, 1997, there were, for the Hell's Angels for example, 38 chapters in Canada. Young people with no criminal record were being recruited. It was clear that the organized crime offence in the Criminal Code could not be used.
There were all kinds of provisions. In fact, about a dozen laws had been passed to fight organized crime. Among others, there was a witness protection program. In addition, the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles—he will correct me if I am wrong—had sent a message to the Association of Chiefs of Police. He had introduced a bill to withdraw the $1,000 bill. If I recall correctly, it was in early 2000, 2001, 2002.