House of Commons Hansard #168 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was ports.

Topics

Business of the HouseOral Questions

12:10 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

All those opposed to the hon. member's moving the motion will please say nay. It is agreed.

The House has heard the terms of the motion. All those opposed to the motion will please say nay.

(Motion agreed to)

Designation of Order of the DayThe BudgetOral Questions

12:10 p.m.

University—Rosedale Ontario

Liberal

Chrystia Freeland LiberalDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

Madam Speaker, our government is focused on building a clean economy for Canada in the 21st century, strengthening our universal public health care system, making life more affordable and creating good jobs and prosperity for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

That will continue to be the focus in the budget I will present to the House on Tuesday, March 28, at 4 p.m.

Pursuant to Standing Order 83(2), I ask that an order of the day be designated for that purpose.

Government Operations and EstimatesCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, entitled “Supplementary Estimates (C), 2022-23”.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Liberal

Peter Fonseca Liberal Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 10th report of the Standing Committee on Finance entitled, “Responding to the Challenges of Our Time.”

I would like to thank the finance committee clerks, Alexandre Roger and Carine Grand-Jean; analysts, Joëlle Malo, Michaël Lambert-Racine and Sylvain Fleury; committee assistant, Lynda Gaudreault; the whole team of interpreters, technologists and staff of the committee; and of course all the hard-working members of the committee, our witnesses and department officials for their hard work in getting this report completed.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:10 p.m.

Conservative

Jasraj Singh Hallan Conservative Calgary Forest Lawn, AB

Madam Speaker, I am rising today to table the Conservatives' dissenting opinion to the finance committee's pre-budget consultation report.

First, I want to say that Conservatives thank the clerks and analysts, and all committee staff, for their work during this process. We also thank the witnesses who appeared or made written submissions. Conservatives dissent to this report because it fails to address the inflation and cost of living crisis created by increasing tax hikes and out of control Liberal spending. For those reasons, we cannot support the recommendations of the report.

I would also like to add that Conservatives would like to see a better process put in place so that the finance committee could complete the pre-budget consultation process more efficiently and effectively, and that the recommendations of stakeholders and the committee are considered and reported to this place well ahead of the budget season.

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C‑325, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (conditions of release and conditional sentences).

Madam Speaker, MPs have the great privilege to introduce legislation, and I am using mine today. In my political career, I have had many opportunities to question the government about measures needed to deal with violent criminals. I am trying to achieve three things by tabling this bill.

First, the bill would create a new offence for the breach of conditions of conditional release imposed in relation to certain serious offences.

Second, the bill would require the reporting of those breaches to the appropriate authorities.

Third, the bill would amend the Criminal Code to preclude persons convicted of certain offences from serving their sentence in the community.

We are talking here about protecting the public. Bill C‑5, which was passed this fall, has had a dramatic impact. For example, men convicted of serious sexual assault are using it to get house arrest. My role as an MP is to work for Canadians and Quebeckers and take actions that will allow us to live in a safe country.

That is why I am so proud to respond to the motion adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec on February 15 calling for aggravated sexual assault and other sexual assault offences to be ineligible for community sentences.

I hope that my bill will transcend party lines, that the Bloc Québécois will support it without hesitation, and that we shed our political stripes and convictions to focus on one goal: the safety of our constituents.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

The member for Nunavut is rising on a point of order.

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU

[Member spoke in Inuktitut]

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

The hon. member is just introducing the bill, so no amendments can be moved at this time.

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU

[Member spoke in Inuktitut]

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

Yes, exactly.

Territorial Lands ActRoutine Proceedings

12:15 p.m.

NDP

Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-326, An Act to amend the Territorial Lands Act.

[Member spoke in Inuktitut and provided the following text:]

ᐅᖃᖅᑎᑦᑎᔩ, ᖁᕕᐊᓱᒃᐳᖓ ᐅᓪᓗᒥ ᒪᓕᒐᒃᓴᓐᓄ ᓂᓪᓕᕈᓐᓇᕋᒪ.

ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒥ ᓄᓇᓕᕆᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᒪᓕᒐᖅ ᓇᓕᒧᓕᕆᐊᖃᕋᓗᐊᕐᒪᑦ ᓄᓇᖅᔪᐊᕐᒥᒃ ᐊᖏᕈᑕᐅᓯᒪᔪᕐᒥᒃ ᓄᓇᖃᖅᑳᖅᓯᒪᔫᑉ ᐱᔪᓐᓇᐅᑎᖏᓐᓂᒃ. ᐃᓱᒪᖅᓱᖢᑎᒃ, ᓯᕗᓂᖓᒍᑦ ᐊᒻᒪ ᐋᔩᖃᑎᒋᑦᑎᐊᖅᓯᒪᓂᑰᓪᓗᑎᒃ ᐊᑐᑦᑎᐊᕆᐊᖃᖅᐳᖅ ᐱᔪᒪᒻᒪᖔᑕ ᓄᓇᓕᕆᓂᐊᕈᑎᒃ ᓄᓇᖃᖅᑳᖅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᓄᓇᖓᓂ. ᓄᓇᖃᖅᑳᖅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᐱᔪᓐᓇᐅᑎᖏᑦ ᑕᑎᒋᓗᒋᑦ ᒪᓕᒃᑕᐅᑦᑎᐊᕆᐊᓕᒃ ᒐᕙᒪᒃᑯᓄᑦ ᐱᒋᐊᓂᓕᒫᖏᓄᑦ ᐃᓱᓕᓐᓂᓕᒫᖏᓐᓄᑦ. ᑖᓐᓇ ᒪᓕᒐᒃᓴᖅ ᐱᙳᖅᑎᑦᑎᓇᔭᕐᒪᑦ ᒐᕙᒪᐅᔪᑦ ᒪᓕᑦᑎᒋᐊᖃᓕᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᕐᒥᒃ ᒪᓕᒃᑕᐅᔭᕆᐊᓕᖕᓂᑦ.

ᖁᔭᓕᕗᖓ ᐱᓕᕆᖃᑎᒋᓚᐅᖅᑕᓐᓂ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔨᑕᐃᑦ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᒪᓕᒐᓕᐅᖅᑎᖅᔪᐊ Edmonton Griesbach−ᒧᑦ ᐊᐃᑉᐲᒻᒪ ᒪᓕᒐᑦᓴᒥᒃ ᐊᒻᒪ ᐅᕙᑦᑐ ᐊᒃᓱᕉᑎᖃᐃᓐᓇᖅᐸᖕᒪᑦ ᓄᓇᖃᖅᑳᖅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᐱᔪᓐᓇᐅᑎᖏᓐᓂᒃ ᐊᔭᐅᖅᑐᐃᖃᑦᑕᕐᒪᑦ.

[Member provided the following translation:]

Uqaqtittiji, I am happy to rise today to speak to my bill.

The Territorial Lands Act needs to align with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Free, prior and informed consent must be used when developing on indigenous lands. Indigenous people’s rights must be upheld at all stages of government. This bill will ensure that governments meet this important international standard.

I thank the experts I worked with and my NDP colleague, the member for Edmonton Griesbach, for seconding my bill and who continues to advocate for indigenous rights, as I do.

[English]

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Territorial Lands ActRoutine Proceedings

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I have a deep respect for the member and indigenous languages. However, going forward, it would be advantageous if we were provided with some sort of translation so we know what is being talked about on the floor.

Territorial Lands ActRoutine Proceedings

12:20 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

Translation was on the auxiliary channel. I was listening to it. In the future, we should put out a statement advising members what channel it will be on, but it was on the auxiliary channel.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Madam Speaker, I move that the first report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights presented on Thursday, April 7, 2022, be concurred in.

I first want to thank my caucus for making the opening available for me to move this concurrence report, and I also want to thank, in particular, the members for Victoria and for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, with whom I continue to work very closely on matters to do with combatting violence against women.

In Parliament, unanimity is a very rare thing, but fighting violence against women provides an instance where all parties have agreed. This report and its recommendations have now twice received the support of all parties in the justice committee.

The statistics on violence against women in Canada are shocking and clearly demonstrate that intimate partner violence is a growing problem. At the start of the pandemic, I heard from both frontline service providers and police in my riding that domestic violence calls for assistance had increased by more than 30%. Unfortunately, this happened in communities all across the country, and these rates of violence have not decreased, even as pandemic measures have eased.

We continue to lose one woman every six days to intimate partner violence in Canada. More than 40% of women, that is more than six million Canadians, reported experiencing some kind of psychological, physical or sexual abuse in an intimate partner relationship in their lifetime, and marginalized women bare the brunt of this violence. For indigenous women, the number reporting abuse is 61%, and for women with disabilities it is 55%. For lesbian, bisexual and transwomen, it is over 67%. While indigenous women account for 5% of the population, they account for 21% of all women killed by an intimate partner.

Making coercive and controlling behaviour a criminal offence is not really about adding a new offence to the Criminal Code. Instead, it is about recognizing that this behaviour is, in itself, a form of violence. It is about moving the point at which victims can get help to one before physical violence occurs, instead of making them wait until there are bruises and broken bones. As femicide in intimate partner relationships is almost always preceded by coercive and controlling behaviour, this change will save lives.

We should also recognize the broad community impacts that intimate partner violence has in all of our communities, not only on survivors but also on families and, in particular, on children, both in their physical safety and their mental health.

I urge all members of the House to support this concurrence motion, to support the necessary legislation when it comes forward later in the session and to support the other important recommendations in this report. Let us show Canadians that we are united and that we are determined to bring an end to violence against women in this country.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I want to thank my colleague on the justice committee and in the House from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke. This is an area that is close to my heart, and I anticipate speaking to this issue in a few minutes. It is certainly something that causes great concern.

I am curious what my colleague thinks about the penalties we should be ascribing to this behaviour. It should obviously be looked at as criminal behaviour, based on the report. That is fairly clear. Would he see this as being something where we should be looking at having a deterrent effect in sentencing? I am curious to have his thoughts on that.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Mr. Speaker, I think what we are trying to get across as a justice committee and as members of Parliament is that there is a failure to recognize that coercive and controlling behaviour is, in and of itself, a form of violence.

As I said in my brief remarks, this is really not about creating a new criminal offence. It is about moving that goalpost to where people can get assistance when they are in problematic relationships instead of making them wait until there is physical harm before social service agencies, law enforcement or whoever else can step in to assist them in escaping coercive and controlling behaviour.

I think that this is where we are starting, by recognizing this as a form of violence and doing so explicitly in the Criminal Code of Canada.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:25 p.m.

Bloc

Christine Normandin Bloc Saint-Jean, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for tabling the report.

I would like him to address the issue of help and rehabilitation. Should we not try to find a better balance between criminalizing coercive behaviour, helping victims and potentially rehabilitating people who committed acts of coercion?

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Mr. Speaker, the report of the justice committee does not just deal with the legislative part, it also make serious recommendations about increasing the supports, in particular, for frontline community and women's organizations that provide assistance to the survivors of domestic violence. So, it is a package of measures that is in the report and not just adding to the Criminal Code.

However, I do want to emphasize what I think is very important here, which is that we need to move that intervention point, or that help point, forward. When we can do that, it will not be really about prosecuting more men, it will be about making sure that the violence does not occur, which ends up in prosecutions.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.

I listened to my colleague's intervention on this issue, and what struck me was when he talked about recognizing the pattern of behaviour as itself violence. All too often, it seems as though we have looked at what we often call a “crime cycle” or a “cycle of violence”, and we do not look at the antecedents themselves as violence even though those things are really part of what makes up the offence.

I am very proud of my wife. I am going to give her a shout-out here as I stand up. She runs two free legal clinics that often deal with people who have been abused, particularly in the intimate partner violence setting, and people who are struggling to get away from their abusers. One of the things she reports to me that really captivates my interest, if you will, and really beckons to my concern on this point is the fact it is incredibly difficult to get police resources devoted to these types of things. I am wondering if my colleague might be prepared to comment on that.

I know that the NDP might have different views on police resources and things like that, but at this point, the police are stretched very thin and sometimes it is difficult to have the resources to police this matter. This is incredibly important, and we know that so many intimate partners end up the victims of homicide. I wonder what my colleague's thoughts are on that.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:30 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Mr. Speaker, before I came here, I was a member of a municipal police board, and I am quite familiar with the challenges police have, because we leave so many social problems to them to try to deal with rather than providing the services in advance that would prevent these problems from ending up in the legal system.

What was most striking to me at the beginning of the pandemic was when I phoned and talked with local police agencies. They were saying that “We have an increased number of domestic violence calls, and in many of those, we know that this will end up in violence, but with the way the law is structured right now, we have no way to offer assistance to those victims until there are bruises and broken bones.”

That phrase that I have been using came from one of those police officers who gets sent to those problematic relationships. So, it was from both police and women's agencies that the suggestion came that we needed to move that point where we provide assistance closer to those times when the victims actually need it.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:30 p.m.

Scarborough—Rouge Park Ontario

Liberal

Gary Anandasangaree LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his hard work over the years on this issue. We have spoken extensively on the need to ensure that coercive behaviour and controlling behaviour is addressed.

I would ask the member's opinion on Bill C-233, which passed the House, in terms of how the bill would assist us in addressing coercive and controlling behaviour.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:30 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Mr. Speaker, I am going to turn back to the justice report and the very specific recommendations about domestic violence rather than talk about another bill today, because the motion is to get what I hope will be support from all parties in the House for moving forward on the very broad range of recommendations in the report.

So, that is what I am hoping we will get to. I am hoping that this debate will conclude today so that we can have a vote when we come back and express the will of the House, which I believe to be unanimous in that we need to take further action on intimate partner violence.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:30 p.m.

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke for this important debate and initiative. I would add that there is intimate partner violence where the police say they have to wait until something has happened. There are also the deaths of children who are caught up in partnership breakdowns when an intimate partner not only wants to kill his own partner, but wreak the worst kind of revenge and kill the children as well.

I do not know if this aspect of intimate partner violence is on the minds of those who have brought this forward to us today. I would appreciate any comments on that.

Justice and Human RightsCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

12:30 p.m.

NDP

Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC

Mr. Speaker, yes, when we held hearings at the justice committee, it was made very clear to us that we ought not forget that not only are children often used as part of the coercive and controlling behaviour, but they are also the victims of coercive and controlling behaviour. To see this kind of violence used against their mother, as it is almost always the case of men versus women, has long-term mental health impacts on children.

We have tried to be aware, in writing these recommendations, of the need to consider those broader impacts, not just on the survivors, but on broader family dynamics.