Mr. Speaker, I cannot give the statistics off the tip of my tongue. I would hope that those statistics would have come before the committee. Certainly, they should be before the House before we make these kinds of decisions.
From my over 35 years as a lawyer, I am certainly aware of the percentage of aboriginal members of our community who are incarcerated. I am deeply concerned that now the government wants to put even more people in our jails which are very overcrowded. In our jails, there is a propensity for a lot of violence which could include prisoners who are in jail but not for violent behaviour.
It is critical that we think carefully about what the purpose is for the offences we have put under the Criminal Code. We should mirror that with looking at whether we are putting enough resources toward preventing people becoming involved in violent acts to begin with and being imprisoned.