Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention that one of the most frustrating and troubling announcements by the Conservative government in terms of its approach to justice is the amount of money that it is prepared to spend on new jails and prisons. The figure of $250 million is startling when, as the hon. member mentioned, the system of incarceration has not been successful in addressing the root causes. In fact, creating more jails and prisons is certainly not part of the answer.
I appreciate the member's question in terms of aboriginal communities, first nations, Métis and Inuit groups that have done incredible amounts of work in terms of restorative justice. They have certainly been subject to a colonial system of 150 years which has had devastating impacts.
The last Liberal government had taken great strides to work in cooperation with aboriginal groups toward addressing these very issues. The root causes have to be addressed and, in fact, as the member indicated, the sentencing circles and the community healing strategies are where I believe the funds should be focused. I believe we will never curb the rate of crime and the aboriginal community will suffer the impacts the most.
There are a lot of community based strategies that need to be examined, monitored, evaluated and promoted because they have had an enormous amount of success in addressing root issues and community dynamics.