Allan Rock

[Indian Affairs, April 18th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the audit has not yet been completed or made public. I expect it will be made public by the end of the month and at that time I will comment on it. I do not think it is appropriate for me to offer comment before it is public and in the hands of members of the House.

I can say that information about the audit appears to be, at least to some extent, in the public domain. I deplore the leaking of any information about an audit that is not yet completed and released publicly.

I can inform the House that as far as the Department of Justice is concerned we are making inquiries to ensure that no information was inappropriately leaked by anyone at the department under the authority of the Department of Justice.

[Statutes Of Canada, April 15th, 1994]

Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I am pleased to table, in both official languages, proposals to correct anomalies, inconsistencies and errors in the Statutes of Canada, to deal with other matters of a non-controversial and uncomplicated nature in those statutes and to repeal certain provisions of those statutes that have expired, lapsed or have otherwise ceased to have effect.

[Gun Control, April 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has made a point that is very fair but I think we are talking about two different things.

First, the Auditor General was speaking about evaluating the effect of the laws that were put on the books in recent years. That is an ongoing process. All of that will be made public. We will be determining the effect of Bill C-17 and its implementation. That is one thing and it is fully public.

The second thing, and I think evaluation is not a good word for the second subject, is this government, Bill C-17 now being behind us, is looking at other steps we might take for more effective gun control.

On that subject, what the parliamentary secretary said is that I and my colleagues in justice are putting together a list of options for further steps that can be taken. We are going to go to caucus and cabinet with that list. We are going to select a strategy we think is in the public interest and then bring it forward as proposals to this House.

[Gun Control, April 15th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the effectiveness of the laws at present are being evaluated on a continuing basis and we will continue that effort.

I want to make it clear however, in terms of what the parliamentary secretary may have said, as I have said earlier this week I am studying a broad range of options to bring forward to caucus and to cabinet for consideration, and that process is under way.

As to the effectiveness of the present laws, we simply have to look at the evidence all around us, the increasing availability of guns for people with criminal intent, to know that we have a long way to go before being as effective as many of us want to be on this subject.

[Violent Crime, April 12th, 1994]

I will be brief, Mr. Speaker.

When I said that I did not want the hon. member to be an alarmist, I respect the concern. I am just saying that we should keep it in context and that basically we have a safe and civilized society.

In terms of timeframe, I have already said that I propose to bring to this House before the end of June specific proposals to

change the Young Offenders Act and, at the same time, to turn it over to the parliamentary committee for its detailed review.

I have said as well that we are going to have legislation before the House before the end of June on other changes to the Criminal Code, including with respect to sentencing. We propose to fulfil that undertaking.

[Violent Crime, April 12th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, may I first take this opportunity to say that I do not share the alarmist sense that the hon. member communicates in her question.

Of course I am appalled, as all Canadians are, with the savagery and the senselessness of the crimes to which she has referred. Clearly we cannot tolerate such violent crime in this country.

At the same time I urge the hon. member and Canadians to keep this issue in context. This country has a justice system which works. The statistics demonstrate that in terms of violent crime and crime in general in Canada we are still a civilized society.

I will conclude by saying that we should not be stampeded by these single events by jumping into what seem to be simple solutions. At the same time, we have to take them for what they are, symptoms that further actions require. By changes to the Criminal Code, the Young Offenders Act and by focusing on crime-

[Sexual Violence, April 12th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, female genital mutilation is already a criminal misdeed in this country. It is plainly contrary to at least three sections of the Criminal Code.

Yesterday I furnished the hon. member with a copy of the document that I tabled with the House setting forth the analysis upon which I rely for those conclusions.

In my respectful view, it is not going to help dealing with this difficult and tragic problem for us to refine further a code that already prohibits the misconduct. Our focus must be on ensuring that the people who arrive as immigrants and the people who are in Canada already are aware that it is against the law and that the provincial authorities work with us in enforcing those laws sternly and efficiently. I believe that is the way to come to grips with this problem and that is the conclusion which I expressed in the document that I tabled.

[Sexual Violence, April 12th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I tabled a document with the House following question period in which I furnished written information with respect to the conclusions to which I had come on the subject of female genital mutilation, making it clear that I concluded after investigating the matter during the past month that the response lies not in further change to the Criminal Code but rather more effective education and enforcement of the present laws.

The document I tabled made it clear that during the past 30 days I conferred with among others the attorney general of Ontario. I have spoken to members of a task force which she put in place. I met in my office with the chair and members of the National Women's Committee that produced the report that gave rise to the original question. I examined the factual situation in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, the provinces in which this problem is most pronounced. The consensus of opinion was that the focus of the federal government at this time should be on education in partnership with the provinces and community groups. That is where we are going to solve this problem and lessen its incidence, not in further amendments to the Criminal Code. That is the conclusion to which I came.

[Justice, April 12th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I spoke yesterday in response to a question in this House expressing my own horror at the recent savage and senseless crimes. I expressed my view as well that we must not let our anger and our concern regarding those recent events have us jump to conclusions about simple solutions to these problems.

Yes, it is time for action. As I said yesterday, this government is at present putting together proposals which will come soon to this House to make the criminal laws of this country more effective and also deal with the need to respect the importance of crime prevention in these initiatives.

Before long the hon. member and this House will see concrete action from this government.

[Justice, April 12th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, may I suggest that the hon. member is not being fair to the facts. The truth is that two weeks ago or perhaps three the chair of the justice committee, if that is the hon. member's reference, gave his own views with respect to penalties for murder. I was quick to say on that occasion that he did not speak for this government, that he was expressing his own view. Indeed, I disagree with him.

He is but one voice on a committee of 15 persons on which his own party is well represented. The committee will have ample opportunity to influence the policy of this government on criminal justice.

As to mixed signals, may I make it plain that our position has been uniform and clear throughout. It has been that we are going to deal with crime in this society just as we said on the platform, both by making the laws of this country more effective and enforcing them more effectively. That means, among other things, changes to the Criminal Code and the Young Offenders Act as necessary, at the same time recognizing the importance of crime prevention and all that that means to the same effort.

There are no mixed signals. Our position has been straightforward and consistent throughout.