Allan Rock

[Violent Crime, May 11th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I can give that commitment without hesitation. I am confident the hon. member will find that in the proposals we will bring forward to lengthen the maximum

sentences for serious violent crimes in the Young Offenders Act, for specific changes in the sentencing provisions of the Criminal Code, that he will find ample scope for accountability by individuals who commit crime.

Let me say something else in response to his question. He asks about root causes. The record of committees and commissions and inquiries is replete with references to the fact that longer jail terms and harsher penalties and more police do not solve the problem of crime because they do not get at its causes. The causes are patent. They are poverty and they are dysfunctional families and they are abusive children and it is hopelessness.

[Violent Crime, May 11th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the record will disclose that in response to the questions that have been put I have said that there are already two answers to the issue of crime.

The first is legislative reform to ensure that the Criminal Code and the Young Offenders Act and all the other statutes are enforced as effectively as possible. That is one response.

But of equal and perhaps in the long term greater importance, I have spoken about the root causes of crime. In that connection I have spoken about developing at long last a national strategy for crime prevention and in order to achieve that establishing a national crime prevention council. We propose to do just that.

In response to the question by the hon. leader of the Reform Party may I say this. The specific steps will be the creation of the council and the reform of the statutes. I have mentioned that in weeks ahead I will be bringing to the House proposed amendments to both the Criminal Code and the Young Offenders Act.

As for the root causes, I believe the national council on crime prevention will once and for all collaborate, harness and put to constructive use the energy you see in communities across the country, including Edmonton, which is among the leaders, toward community based programs for crime prevention linking social services and-

[Justice, May 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I met last Friday in my office with a woman known publicly as Margo B., a victim of sexual violence, who discussed this matter with me from a powerfully personal perspective.

I want the House to know that I expressed to Margo B. on that occasion my admiration for the courage with which she has drawn public attention to this important question.

I want the House to know as well that I told Margo B. that we are considering the question. We recognize its complexity. It raises criminal law as well as health and constitutional issues. We have it under consideration. Indeed I told her that an interdepartmental report we received recently recommended against compulsory HIV testing in such circumstances but that I did not consider that the end of the matter.

Finally I told her then, as I tell the House now, that I expect the Department of Justice will be in a position to make its recommendation to the government in this connection by about September of this year so that we can get the matter before the public for discussion at that time.

[Young Offenders Act, May 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, may I say two things in response?

First of all, the process of criminal justice reform is an area of law that uniquely engages the interests of the provinces, for they pay for much of it in terms of administration, particularly with young offenders. It seemed to the government that it was appropriate, indeed necessary, at the end of March when we convened a meeting with our provincial and territorial counterparts, to solicit their views with respect to the proposals we had. As a result of that consultation there are changes in the proposals we will be bringing forward.

The second and equally important answer that I proffer to the hon. member is this. One must not think that the problems of crime and violence in this society are going to be dealt with by specific amendments to this or that piece of legislation. That will help and we are going to do it. But what is really going to be required if we are going to make a significant difference in the safety of communities in this country is a longer term approach toward crime prevention.

The hon. member ought not to think that just changing a statute is going to get that job done.

[Young Offenders Act, May 10th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, as I said in the House yesterday, we propose to bring forward specific legislation, particularly in relation to the Young Offenders Act but also dealing more broadly with the question of sentencing under the Criminal Code.

We propose also to announce the creation, the structure and the composition of a national crime prevention council within the weeks to come. Before the House rises in June, it will have before it legislation with respect to specific changes in the Young Offenders Act and sentencing as well as particulars of the crime prevention council.

I cannot tell the hon. member that this legislation will be enacted by the end of June. I can say in response that we will have concrete proposals before the House and that is in keeping with the commitments we have made throughout the session.

[Gun Control, May 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I should think probably in the autumn of this year, but my letter to the attorneys general of the provinces should be in their hands shortly.

Not only is this a question of looking at the prospect of increasing the penalty but as I said, it is also a question of vigorously enforcing the law that is on the books right now. That is an important part of the equation as well.

[Gun Control, May 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I have said on many occasions that in my view the answer must be in both controlling more strictly those guns that are purchased in Canada and getting at the problem of weapons in the hands of criminals.

In fact, we have under consideration now in the Department of Justice the question of whether the penalty under section 85(1) of the Criminal Code should be increased so that it is a greater deterrent and more effective.

I have written to my counterparts in the provinces and territories. I have asked them to urge the crown attorneys in the courtrooms where these charges are prosecuted to ensure they are pressed with vigour, that they result in the appropriate sentences, and that the charges are not dropped as part of plea bargains or any such arrangements.

[Justice, May 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, let me make it clear, if I have not already, that I reject absolutely the characterization the hon. member has given to the policies of this government about preferring the rights of criminals to the rights of victims.

This government is not interested in that kind of rhetorical exchange. The fact is we have an agenda of proposals in our platform which we are going to follow through with legislation in this House that is intended to achieve both an improved justice system and legitimate efforts toward crime prevention.

I do not think it advances the discussion to characterize a statement from 1971 as what has been going on in the justice system in the last 23 years. The fact is we have made our agenda for legislation clear and we intend to follow through on it.

[Justice, May 9th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the Young Offenders Act contains in its statement of principles the primacy of the protection of society as an objective of that act.

We in government believe that the protection of society is best achieved by a combination of laws that are effective and effectively enforced and social programs and government policies that are intended to get at not just harsher penalties and longer jail terms but the underlying causes of crime in society. Those are the objectives of this government in its mandate.

[Justice, May 9th, 1994]

In terms of the '71 change, I do not think that statement can fairly be applied to all legislation that has been through this House over the last 23 years.

I think the answer to achieve safer communities in this country is to follow through on our election commitments which we intend to do, a balance between making the laws more effective and coming to grips with the root causes of crime and that is exactly what we intend to do.