Mr. Speaker, indeed we share that concern for helping, protecting and working with victims of crime to ensure that the criminal justice system works not only more efficiently, but also more empathetically and passionately with respect—
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 43% of the vote.
Justice February 8th, 2022
Mr. Speaker, indeed we share that concern for helping, protecting and working with victims of crime to ensure that the criminal justice system works not only more efficiently, but also more empathetically and passionately with respect—
Justice December 16th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, people charged with serious drug crimes, with trafficking and importing, will always face serious consequences in our criminal justice system. That is simply the case. All the mandatory minimum penalties do is clog up the system, and increase systemic racism and the impact of systemic racism within the system. The statistics show the opposition's policy of “tough on crime” is an abject failure and we are going to move beyond it and treat health problems as health problems and criminal justice problems as criminal justice problems.
Justice December 16th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, once again, I would ask the opposition to stop misleading Canadians. Serious drug traffickers—
Justice December 16th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, what this government does get is that mandatory minimum penalties have been an abject failure in all regards. They do not work to decrease criminality. They do not work to decrease recidivism. All they do is clog up the criminal justice system, cause delays and have a serious disproportionate impact on systemic racism.
Serious crimes in our system will always carry serious consequences. All of the crimes named where the situation is serious will carry a serious maximum sentence.
Justice December 16th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's concern on the issue.
We have agreed, as a government, to a take note debate on this in February. Our objection yesterday was to the fact that one does not make a constitutional amendment with a unanimous consent motion without ever having discussed it or debated it in any forum in the House. We respect Saskatchewan. We will do that take note debate, and we will act accordingly.
Justice December 14th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, I reject the premise of that question. I would ask the hon. member to read the bill.
Serious crimes will always be punished seriously. All we are doing in this bill is selecting a number of crimes that have a serious impact on the overrepresentation of indigenous and Black people in the criminal justice system, in order to give back flexibility to judges by eliminating certain minimum mandatory penalties and by allowing for the possibility of conditional sentencing orders, and in order to attack systemic racism in our criminal justice system.
Justice December 14th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and our government have always been clear: We will allow this to play out in the courts. Some Quebeckers are defending their rights before the courts and our position is clear. This bill was adopted by the Quebec National Assembly and we will leave it up to the courts.
Justice December 14th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, our position has always been clear: No one should lose their job because of what they wear or their religious beliefs.
What is happening in Chelsea is that a community is rallying to defend one of its members, a teacher. Obviously, there are some difficult discussions ahead. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. Quebeckers are defending their interests in the courts.
Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act December 13th, 2021
Madam Speaker, I presume that by “youths” the member means young adults of 18, 19 and 20 at a particular point in their lives. What this legislation does is it allows a judge to take into account a variety of different factors such that a simple and stupid mistake does not end up putting someone in prison for four years.
An example I often use is a young person in the north who is 19 or 20 years old and has a job, has a significant other and is still going to school. He goes out on a Saturday night, has a few beers too many, comes back and, on a dare from a friend, takes out a long gun and puts a couple of bullets into the side of an empty building. There is no harm, no foul there, but let us say a neighbour hears it and calls the police, and he is arrested and gets a four-year mandatory minimum penalty. He loses his job, loses his education and loses his girlfriend, and when he gets out he has no friends, so he moves in with the people he did time with. In this case, all the sentence did was form a different kind of finishing school for a person we could have helped otherwise.
Criminal Code and Controlled Drugs and Substances Act December 13th, 2021
Madam Speaker, the data is well documented, and with all due respect to the hon. member, I am going to trust the data over an opinion. Indigenous adults represent 5% of the general population but 30% of federally incarcerated inmates. That is six times higher than the rate of federal custody among non-indigenous adults. Black Canadians represent 3% of the population but 7% of federal offenders.
I would also point out, with respect to the efficiency of the criminal justice system, that I often hear members on the other side complaining about the slowness of the criminal justice system in light of the Jordan ruling. Mandatory minimum penalties are one of the single biggest factors in clogging up the criminal justice system. They represent almost 50% of all charter appeals. People often win, and cases often result in extremely contentious litigation because people do not plea bargain anymore. By removing the mandatory minimum penalties for these kinds of offences, we will be able to increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system.