Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak on Bill C-37, amendments to the Young Offenders Act, amendments that Canadians have been requesting, amendments that are long overdue.
A couple of weeks ago I received in my office a package of information from the justice department about the Young Offenders Act. The information was all about the perception and reality of the Young Offenders Act. The information appeared to be a justification of the Young Offenders Act as it now stands with statistics and convincing bureaucrats telling us that the perceptions that Canadians have of the act are wrong.
It was therefore no great surprise to learn that the amendments to the Young Offenders Act that the minister is proposing are quite minor.
I am pleased that some changes are being made to the legislation and while I would not like to see young people locked up and the key thrown away, I would like to have seen stronger amendments being proposed.
Canadians have reached the point at which they are demanding safety for women, children and ordinary people on the streets and in their own homes. One of the fastest growing categories of crime is that committed by young offenders. It is not uncommon to hear of the door of a home being kicked down and the family terrorized, beaten and robbed.
Throughout the country people are being beaten, stabbed, kicked and murdered by juveniles. We hear the authorities saying to people things like do not take matters into your own hands, leave it to the police.
Instead of people being more secure the wave of youth crime continues to rise, with sentences young people receive from the courts being a poor reflection of the severity of the crime.
How have we ever allowed such ugly violence to become an every day occurrence in Canada, this country that treasures peace and beauty? We have had human behaviour experts tell us on and on why violence is a growing phenomenon. Violence in the home breeds violence. The structure of the schools stifles imagination. Serial killer cards, violent cartoons, Dungeons and Dragons games blur the line between fantasy and reality. There is the old favourite: "Dad was drunk and mom couldn't get up in the morning so how can anyone expect better from their kids?".
Unfortunate as a child may be to be born to such parents this really is nothing new. Fewer children than we would like to believe have ideal parents. For a long time before this present day crescendo of modern violence children with less than ideal parents grew up knowing right from wrong and being able to restrain themselves from causing vandalism and mayhem.
For those who did commit an offence authorities did not tolerate this behaviour and the offender was usually dealt with swiftly and properly.
I always find it refreshing to go home to the Cariboo-Chilcotin where great intelligence is not as important as good common sense. There people remember that once they were children too and they remember what it was like to be a child. Childhood is not something new. People who live in Horsefly or Tatlayoko, British Columbia, for example, offer some other reasons for the difficulties our communities are having with youth criminals.
What are they saying about young people and crime? In a letter from Quesnel signed by 20 constituents they say: "If we are to avoid the increase in crime which is currently plaguing Canada we must have disciplinary measures which are strong enough to discourage criminal intent. Young people today are more criminally aggressive because they are very aware no action can be taken against them".
Among some of our youth this attitude is reinforced by peer pressure that whatever crime they commit will go unpunished. Even if caught by the police and then moved to the family courtroom and then passed on to the unending counselling, the community service, the probation officer, and even perhaps the incarceration, these only become subjects of ridicule, more material for building the macho image, the badge of acceptance for those who really count within the gang. However, there is nothing to change the attitude or cause them to search for different friends.
It was not always this way. I once had an elderly man come into my pastor's study. In the course of our conversation he told me that he had once done something that caused him to be sentenced for a long time in the former B.C. penitentiary. After serving a good portion of his sentence he was called into the warden's office where he was informed that by taking a number of strokes of the paddle the remainder of his sentence would be reduced by half. Without any hesitation he agreed to take the paddle.
However, after having been securely bound with leather straps and receiving those strokes he said to me: "I didn't realize what I was asking for. Afterwards I knew I would do anything to avoid that kind of punishment again".
After his release he received an education, became an accountant, married, raised a family and contributed much to his community. If violence breeds violence, as we are told ad nauseam, it certainly did not in this case.
What the experts so frequently fail to mention is that violence is part of everyone's make-up. Its seeds are in all of us. Any child psychologist knows that to develop normally a child must have limits. How often do we hear the expression `the terrible twos', the age when a child first realizes that he or she can try mom or dad's patience to the limit?
One of the responsibilities of parents is to establish appropriate limits within which their children may discover reality. As a parent I know that these limits are seriously tested by a growing child with expanding horizons. Whether it is the terrible twos or a teenager who is continually coming in after curfew, sometimes force is required to maintain even the most appropriate limits when negotiations break down.
Such an event was reported in the B.C. media some months ago. A mother who happened to be a medical doctor took her little child to the supermarket to get some groceries. Things were not going so well between mother and child and a couple of roll around the floor, kicking the feet tantrums had to be dealt with quietly but firmly. It was not easy to get the groceries through the checkout and into the car with a yelling child but it got done. While driving out of the parking lot the child had another tantrum, almost causing a car accident. At this point the mother pulled over to the curb, stopped the car and administered the flat of her hand three or four times to the child's bottom. Then with the situation finally under control she prepared to drive home.
What this mother did not realize was that a government social worker had witnessed the whole episode from the beginning in the store to the end in the car. With the authority given by the B.C. government she removed the child from the mother's care.
If we are concerned about violence in our society we need to recall that there was less violence before corporal punishment was outlawed. Children need protection from beatings and abuse at the hands of abusive adults with uncontrollable tempers, but we cannot compare a considered, well controlled spanking of a child or a well measured, state administered paddling with the uncontrolled violence that is being committed by youthful criminals. There are limits beyond which behaviour is no longer acceptable.
I am not advocating that violence is the answer to righting the wrongs of our young people. I am all for programs in which troubled young people have the opportunity to take stock of themselves and with proper guidance are able to realize that a life of crime is not the way to go. I do realize the amendments the minister is proposing contain suggestions for rehabilitation instead of the offender being held in custody. In some cases this is the right way to treat an individual.
However, my main concern with the proposed amendments is twofold. First, the age of responsibility should have been lowered to 10. While violent crime tends to be committed by youthful offenders, we are hearing more and more in the communities about children who cannot be charged because they are under the age of responsibility. They have been stealing cars and other personal possessions. These children should be held accountable. Their problems should be addressed before they continue down the road to a full blown life of crime.
Being held responsible brings me to my second area of concern: the rights of the victim. All too often there is little consideration for the victim or the victim's family. Young offenders go to court, the sentence is passed, and the general public rarely gets to know what is going on. All young offenders who are charged and appear before a court should have their names and the details of the offences published.
Canadians have a right, particularly neighbours, to know what is happening in their neighbourhoods. While the proposed amendments could allow release of information about young offenders to affected members of the public, it is my opinion that all Canadians should be aware of the offences that young people commit.
The amendments would allow for victims, if they so desire, to make a statement about how a young offender's crime has affected them. I applaud this aspect of the amendments and hope that all victims of crime will allow their account of the ordeal to be read out in court.
Not only should the public be told about young offenders. There should be accountability for young offenders' actions. I note the minister is recommending that youth who commit property crimes or less serious offences could be made to do community service or pay restitution to the victim. That is a good start, but how about holding the parents of the children jointly responsible for their sons' or daughters' activities?
Canadians have long been calling for a better justice system. The current Young Offenders Act, a small part of the justice system, is simply not working. Canadians want to see sentences reflect the severity of the crime. They want to feel safer in their homes, on their streets and in their communities.
The minor amendments to the Young Offenders Act being proposed are simply addressing the promises made in the Liberal's red book election propaganda. They are not addressing the needs of Canadians from coast to coast. Canadians are concerned about teenage murders, the increasing number of teenage gangs and young people going to school armed with weapons. Canadians have a right to receive some assurance and to know that parliamentarians are working with them in mind.
An in depth review of the Young Offenders Act will be made by the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. The public will be involved to the greatest extent possible. We are told the committee will make consultations. Canadians are
going to tell the government just what they want to see changed. I applaud this, but some changes cannot be legislated.
In much of the correspondence I receive is an underlying theme that children are growing up in a society devoid of hard work ethics and moral values. We have to teach our children the values with which many Canadians grew up, values that enabled them to build the country to be what it is, values that somehow in the materialistic and morally bankrupt society seem to have been lost. If the government listens and if it includes the public's ideas for reforming the Young Offenders Act maybe we will see the real changes that are being called for.
