Allan Rock

[Rights Of Victims, April 9th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, for as long as there has been a justice system and for as long as we have had politics there have been people like the hon. member who is prepared to do what he is doing. The responsibility of those in government is to rise above this sort of ploy, to remember what is in the public interest and to remember what is responsible government.

The hon. member did not tell the House that the case in issue has gone to the British Columbia Court of Appeal which will have an opportunity to consider all the circumstances of that case, and it ought not be discussed here.

I want the House to note that the hon. member and his colleagues pretend to have a monopoly on concern about victims. The reality is that they talk and we act. We have done more for victims over the last 3.5 years through solid legislation than any other government in history.

[Rights Of Victims, April 9th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the member is doing what he does best, which is to take fact out of context, exploit the pain and suffering of others, politicize personal and difficult events, and wrap it in some sense of self-righteousness in an effort to persuade others that he really cares.

Day after day the people of Canada must watch the spectacle of this hon. member and his colleagues wringing the pain out of the justice system and putting it in front of the House for cheap political points. The hon. member ought to be ashamed of himself.

[Rights Of Victims, April 9th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, we will await the report of the committee which is hard at work on that subject now.

Yesterday the committee heard moving and important testimony from victims on what is needed. Let the committee report and then the government will respond.

I will not allow the hon. member to challenge my commitment or the commitment of the government to the interests of victims. We sit in the House every day, most of us, and watch members of the Reform Party shamelessly exploit the tragedy of others, shamelessly exploit the sadness of victims. It is a sad and frankly a disgusting spectacle.

We have shown by action over the last 3.5 years that we are prepared to step up and act where necessary to improve through legislation the justice system for victims.

Members opposite should bear in mind that we take a back seat to no one when it comes to commitment to victims.

[Rights Of Victims, April 9th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member must not mistake dispassionate reasoned analysis for an unfeeling approach to these issues.

The hon. member will find that this Minister of Justice more than any other in the past has spent time with victims of crime, has made it his business to meet with victims of crime, has listened directly to their stories of tragedy, and as a result has acted to improve the law of the country.

I have already made clear that in its dedication to improving the system for victims the government takes a back seat to no one. We are in favour of looking at a bill of rights. The committee is doing that now at our request.

We intend to build on what we have done through legislation so far to improve the system of justice for the interests of victims of crimes.

[Rights Of Victims, April 9th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I want to make clear to the hon. member opposite the government fully agrees that everything that can be done should be done to improve the system to make it more sensitive to the interests of victims.

It is for that very reason I voted in favour of the resolution to send to the committee the suggestion that a committee of the House look at a victims bill of rights. I voted in favour of that. Members of the Reform Party on that committee know the committee has been busy with work and is now addressing the issue.

I want to make it very clear that I am in full agreement with anyone who says the system can be improved and should be improved for the benefit of victims. That is what we are in business to do.

The hon. member will find in this government people who are prepared to make every effort to make the system more responsive to the needs of victims.

[Criminal Code, April 8th, 1997]

moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.

[Justice, April 8th, 1997]

I was saying that I have made it a point in my job to meet with victims and members of families who have lost others to violent crimes. I think it is an important part of my job to deal directly with them and to hear about their experiences so that I can learn from them.

It was almost directly as a result of that experience that the government caucus drafted and put before the House Bill C-55 which is now at report stage and deals specifically with the kind of high risk offender to which the hon. member refers. I hope we can count on his support and the support of other members of the Reform caucus as we finally get action to deal with the kind of threat the hon. member has identified.

[Justice, April 8th, 1997]

As Minister of Justice I have made it a point in my job to meet with victims whenever I have the opportunity, parents, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters-

[Justice, April 8th, 1997]

The fact is that I have looked into the eyes of victims.

[Justice, April 8th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I shall have to send to the hon. member a copy of Bill C-55 which deals specifically with the kind of situation he has described.