Jack Ramsay

[Supreme Court Of Canada, October 2nd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the justice minister implied that the system used to select our federal court justices has worked well for 130 years.

Well, an Angus Reid poll last summer indicated that 52 percent of Canadians had lost faith in the courts and today the Globe and Mail stated “We have a judicial appointment system that is out of control, devoid of accountability and free of public scrutiny.”

Will the justice minister move immediately to establish an independent and open appointment process to restore Canadians' faith in our court system?

[Supreme Court Of Canada, October 1st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the justice minister could take the advice of the retiring supreme court justice.

The supreme court is preparing to hear the legal reference determining whether or not Quebec has the right to separate unilaterally.

Given that he is a party in this court case, has the prime minister considered that he may have put the court in a conflict of interest position by personally appointing his old law partner to the Supreme Court of Canada?

[Supreme Court Of Canada, October 1st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, a retiring supreme court judge, Gérard La Forest, called on the Liberal government to select his replacement through an open review process. Obviously the prime minister did not heed the advice of a man with almost 50 years' experience in the practice of law. Today, the prime minister appointed one of his law partners.

Why did he insist on making this appointment without parliamentary review?

[Speech From The Throne, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague across the way for a very good speech. I might mention that we shared chairs on the justice committee and travelled all across the country looking at the Young Offenders Act. I was always appreciative of his practicality and his common sense when it came to addressing the issue.

It is nice to hear from him today and I have a question for him. Inasmuch as the throne speech stated that the government would “develop alternatives to incarceration for low risk non-violent offenders”, would the hon. member be prepared to support an amendment to the Criminal Code that would exempt violent offenders from conditional sentencing?

The former justice minister agreed that convicted rapists should not walk the streets, that they should be doing time. Because the benefits of conditional sentencing have not been exempted from violent offenders, would he consider supporting an amendment to the Criminal Code that would do that very thing and bring the law into line with the promise made in the throne speech that they would develop alternatives to incarceration only for low risk and non-violent offenders and allow violent offenders, particularly those who commit acts of rape, to do time in jail for no other purpose perhaps than the deterrent effect it might have?

[Speech From The Throne, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the hon. member's comments with interest.

Although there is great hope for our country and for this global trade that is moving toward us, we have social problems in this country that parallel third world countries. We have aboriginal people living on reserves. The minister of Indian affairs has a fiduciary responsibility which encompasses the whole of the cabinet and the government to ensure that the funds that are directed to the chiefs and councils of those reserves reach the grassroots people.

We are hearing directly more and more from a growing number of grassroots people on a number of reserves across the country that they are living in poverty conditions which are leading to an enormous degree of violence, alcohol and drug abuse. On the Stoney Reserve we heard that an aboriginal woman is living in a van because she protested against the chief and council and mysteriously her house burned down. These kinds of stories are shocking and alarming. Yet the government is saying that all is well and has resisted for the longest time any examination of what was happening on the Stoney reserve. Finally Judge Reilly demanded that something be done to look into the societal conditions that were bringing so many people into his court room.

[Speech From The Throne, September 29th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the minister's outline this morning on the strength of our economy and the position that we are in to take full advantage of the opportunities of the future.

However, I think he embellishes the picture. Shining through all of this is the fact that 50 cents of every dollar that Canadians earn goes to taxes in one form or another. This perhaps has contributed to the fact that the report is that one child in every five is living in poverty, that we have an aboriginal lady who has to live in a van in Alberta on one of the richest reserves in Canada.

Could the minister comment with regard to his glowing picture of the position that our economy is in and our society is in with regard to these particular issues? There are other issues but I see I do not have time to touch on them. Could the minister address those two issues, the rate of child poverty in this country and the fact that we have aboriginal people living in worse than third world conditions?

[Young Offenders Act, September 26th, 1997]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-210, an act to amend the Young Offenders Act to transfer older offenders who commit violent offences to adult court, to limit the application of alternative measures, to allow for certain young offenders to be designated as dangerous offenders, to establish public safety as a dominant consideration in the application of the law respecting young offenders, to remove privacy provisions and to make certain other amendments.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Surrey North for seconding this motion.

It is an honour today to rise and introduce this bill on amending the Young Offenders Act. This summer the new justice minister said the YOA would be a priority yet we did not see anything in the throne speech about it.

Reform believes that the YOA is a priority and thus the reason for our bill and the amendments to lower the age from 12 to 10, to raise 16 and 17 year olds to adult court, automatically transferring serious violent young offenders into adult court aged 14 and 15 and removing the privacy provision for young offenders convicted of violent offences, particularly repeat violent offenders.

The Reform bill does much more. I hope we get the opportunity in the very near future to debate these very important and urgent amendments to the Young Offenders Act.

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

[Speech From The Throne, September 26th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, when we pass laws that destroy the peace of mind of citizens, what are we doing? It is one thing to see the interpretation of the law that affects the sense of justice of our people. It is another thing to see the law itself create that feeling where the peace of mind is destroyed, where they cannot be at peace knowing that the justice officials are not going to interfere with the judicial independence of a judge that they may have to appear before and that they will get a fair hearing, that the individual who commits a crime will be punished in a manner according to the circumstances surrounding the offence. We are hearing this all across the country. The polls are reflecting it.

I cannot understand why the government will not move and support the will of the majority in areas as simple as removing section 745 from the Criminal Code, the faint hope clause that gives special rights and advantages to killers in this country, and on the other hand punishes innocent people in this country.

We see Bill C-68 which is so frustrating for millions of Canadians. What is it doing? Again, it directs punishment to innocent, law abiding people while ignoring to a large extent the criminal users of firearms.

When we see laws passed and maintained that are punishing the innocent and creating inconveniences for the innocent, the law abiding tax paying Canadians, while at the same time giving special rights and privileges to the offender, there is something wrong with the picture and there is something wrong with the justice system in Canada.

The only way the people can speak is through their elected representatives in the House, through the polls, letters to the editor, through petitions to this place, letters and phone calls to ministers of cabinet. They are expressing that discontent and a degree of frustration that indicates they have lost their sense of justice. It has been destroyed by the actions and the laws passed by this House.

[Speech From The Throne, September 26th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, we spent quite a bit of taxpayers' dollars on the 12-year review of the Young Offenders Act. When we talked to ordinary Canadians as we travelled across this country what we found was that they see a lack of ability within the Young Offenders Act to respond adequately to youth crime. We heard that over and over again.

We also heard that the communities want the authority to deal with their own children restored back to them. Families want restored back to them the authority to raise their children in a manner that they think is in the best interests of them, their communities and this country.

There is no question that the Young Offenders Act has formalized to a great extent simple acts that would normally be dealt with by a high school principal or a teacher in the classroom by the discretion of a peace officer. That discretion has been removed by the formalization of the system. Families want this right, this responsibility and this authority to look after their own children returned to them.

We saw program after program, such as the Sparwood program in Sparwood, B.C., coming from the people. People, in spite of all the money and interference by the government through legislation like the Young Offenders Act, were bringing forward programs to protect their children and to keep them out of the criminal justice system. At the same time we see obstacles being placed in the way by the components within the justice system that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo in an industry that spends $10 billion a year on youth and adult crimes.

There is much to do in amending our laws in this country, including the Young Offenders Act, in order to regain the confidence of Canadians and place back into their hands the authority and responsibility to raise their own children in a manner they think is in the best interests of themselves, their children, their communities and this country.

[Speech From The Throne, September 26th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the kind words from my hon. colleague. I would like to take the opportunity to publicly thank him for that and to acknowledge the fact that I was well acquainted with his father who was in this House for many years and who showed the same kind of integrity that his words have reflected.

I appreciate very much his comments and look forward to working with him and reflecting the standard of integrity within this House and within our institutions of government that the people of Canada are demanding and have not been finding, particularly in the justice system, as clearly revealed by the Angus Reid poll of this past summer.

Again, I thank the hon. member for his kind remarks.