House of Commons photoWon her last election, in 2011, with 49% of the vote.
Petitions November 8th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to present a petition today. The petitioners ask that the government look at an automotive trade policy that would require Korea and other offshore markets to purchase equivalent volumes of finished vehicles and auto parts from North America as a condition of their continued access to markets.
Aeronautics Act November 7th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the NDP will be voting no.
Ways and Means November 7th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the NDP will be voting yes.
Judges Act November 7th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the NDP will be voting yes.
Questions Passed as Orders for Returns November 6th, 2006
With regards to band council elections: (a) for each calendar year since the Corbière Decision came into effect, how many bands have had an election and what were the costs of those elections; (b) what plans does the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development have to request an extension of the financial authority from the Treasury Board to continue funding these additional costs for band elections; (c) what is the average cost of a band council election relative to the overall Band Support Funding for First Nations; (d) how many elections have been disputed since 1999 and what were the costs for each of those elections; (e) for those disputed elections, what was the percentage cost of the election as a portion of Band Support Funding and as a portion of own source revenue for the First Nation involved; (f) what studies or audits have been conducted to see how much of the annual two percent funding cap on Indian and Northern Affairs Canada program spending since 1995 has gone to pay for the increased costs of band council elections; (g) how much would Band Support Funding need to increase to cover the increased costs of the Corbière Decision without impacting other program spending; (h) how will the government live up to its fiduciary responsibility for First Nations if the two percent spending cap remains in place; and (i) how will the Honour of the Crown be protected in this matter?
Aboriginal Affairs November 6th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, finger pointing is not helpful. In this community, 780 students in Pikangikum go to school in a building intended for 250.
Overcrowding in homes is just as bad, with up to 18 people living in buildings intended for a family of four.
Pikangikum has had six suicides in the last year.
When will the government reveal its intentions for this particular community? When will the minister actually meet with chief and council and tell them his plans for safe drinking water on this reserve?
Aboriginal Affairs November 6th, 2006
Mr. Speaker, Pikangikum is in crisis. It is the Kashechewan of the northwest. This fly in community still depends on buckets to collect drinking water from lakes and the kids in high school shop classes are busy making outhouses because there is no sewage system.
The chief and council have asked the province to intervene because the health situation is so dire. The people in Pikangikum feel abandoned by the government.
Will the minister meet personally with chief and council to explain the government's plan to improve the health situation in Pikangikum?
Criminal Code November 3rd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for London West for her work on the committee.
The intent of the bill, as amended, is that it will not be used for the most serious violent crimes. That is why the amendments were put forward in that fashion. It should be noted that the only time judges can even use this particular amended bill is if the sentence is to be two years less a day.
That was a very good comment on the member's part.
Criminal Code November 3rd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear the member say that he would actually like to see things based on fact, because that is what I am doing. I am quoting fact, not rhetoric.
This is from the Bureau of Justice statistics in the United States. It says that of the ten states with the highest number of total inmates per 100,000 residents in 2003, nine were red. Of the ten states with the most female inmates per 100,000 residents in 2003, all were red. According to these very same statistics, it was the red states that had the highest incidence of crime, so their being tough on crime by putting people in jail was not solving the issue.
I would argue that part of the problem, and the corrections people themselves will say this, is that we need more data in Canada. We need more studies, for example, on how conditional sentencing impacts on aboriginal people. We need to know what the rate of recidivism is. We need to know when people are given access to a rehabilitation and treatment program, whether or not it shortens the length of time people are in prison and increases the length of time that people are able to stay in the community and perhaps contribute to a more productive society.
I certainly would be pleased to provide the member with the statistics from the Bureau of Justice in the United States.
Criminal Code November 3rd, 2006
Mr. Speaker, before we went into question period, I was talking about the fact that Bill C-9, as originally presented by the government, would have had a severe impact on first nations, Métis and the Inuit. They already are severely overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Removing the option of conditional sentences for so many offences would have only increased the numbers of aboriginal people in prison.
I want to quote from the Teslin Tlingit Council letter, dated October 20, asking the government to reconsider its position around conditional sentences. It states:
Within the Yukon, conditional sentences have proven to be an effective instrument utilized by the Territorial Courts working with First Nation community processes, such as the Teslin Tlingit Peacemaker Sentencing Panel. Conditional sentences have contributed toward the promotion and exercise of community accountability and support of offenders to achieve the successful completion of their conditions, while also acknowledging and responding to the interests of those who have been victimized by crime. The result is that families are kept together with a focus on balancing retribution and rehabilitation of the individual, which provides for the benefit of the overall community.
It is incumbent upon this House to consult appropriately with aboriginal people to ensure that the justice system is not going to take its toll on their families and communities.
This bill, as amended, was the result of diligent work by all members of the opposition party on that committee. I want to especially single out the member for London West who worked with the member for Windsor—Tecumseh and a member from the Bloc to have the bill amended to reflect the wishes of Canadians.
Canadians had been saying that they recognized the serious concerns. Canadians had some serious concerns where conditional sentences were used for serious violent crimes. Canadians thought that in those cases they were inappropriate. As a result, the amended bill reflects the fact that serious violent crime is not a situation where conditional sentences should be used.
This bill now reflects the intention to provide notices to judges to be much more careful when considering offences involving serious violent crime.
I want to use an example of serious sexual assaults. The committee heard from aboriginal women of cases where there were very serious assaults, yet the severity of the assault was not given sufficient consideration when conditional sentencing was considered.
There were a very small number of cases involved in this kind of serious violent crime, but it is very important that judges hear from parliamentarians that using conditional sentences in those kinds of circumstances just was not appropriate. This amended bill provides that direction to the courts not to repeat those kinds of abuses of conditional sentencing.
Much has been made about the use of conditional sentences, and there has been a saying to never let the facts get in the way of rhetoric and a lot of overblown statements. However, the opposition parties did consider the facts. They looked at the information that had been provided by a number of witnesses that talked about the benefits of conditional sentencing. In fact, Canada has been a leader in the world in making conditional sentences work.
Conditional sentences are a step in between probation and incarceration. Part of the benefit of conditional sentences is that it allows the judge the latitude to order treatment and other rehabilitative measures. Statistics show that when offenders have access to treatment and other rehabilitative measures, their chances of returning to prison go down.
This is an important factor because Canadians want prevention. They do not want people to end up in prison to begin with. They to ensure that they have access to housing and to education, and to other social supports that prevent them from getting involved in a life of crime to begin with. Canadians do not want people to return to jail. We know that if we provide some measures, in cases where it is not a serious violent crime, to keep people out of prison, their chances go down of re-offending.
These numbers come from Statistics Canada, from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. It says that those who served a conditional sentence were less likely to return to corrections than those who served a prison sentence. These are statistics from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan in 2003 and 2004.
It is often said in this House that the victims often get left out of this equation. There was a study conducted by Julian Roberts and Kent Roach which concentrated upon the victims of crime and their attitudes toward conditional sentencing. Let me refer to what came out of that study, which again was concentrated on the victims of crime.
It was found that most rehabilitation programs can be more effectively implemented when the offender is in the community rather than in custody; that prison is no more effective a deterrent than the more severe intermediate punishments such as enhanced probation; and that the widespread interest in restorative justice has sparked interest in community based sanctions. Restorative justice initiatives seek to promote the interests of the victim at all stages of the criminal justice system, but particularly at the sentencing stage.
There has been some work done. I want to put this in context. We talk about the Conservatives being Republican-like, so I need to bring in statistics from the U.S. According to an article in Vanity Fair:
If the blue states are sinkholes of moral decay, as right-wing pundits insist, how come red states lead the nation in violent crime, divorce, illegitimacy, and incarceration, among other evils?
This Vanity Fair article talks about a book called Red State, Blue State. It says that red states tend to be the most violent places to live. These are Republican states. Red states dominate the rankings of violent crimes despite their emphasis on judgment and incarceration. It seems that the odds of being shot are much higher in a red state and they are the top 15 states in the rate of death by firearms. In the U.S., which has already had this history of being so-called tough on crime, we have seen that crime goes up.
I would argue that we need to look at the appropriate use of conditional sentences and we also need to look at being tough on the causes of crime and being smart on crime. In those cases, what we really need to do is look at adequate enforcement, prevention and a social safety net that supports keeping people out of poverty and supports the appropriate drug and alcohol rehabilitation as being very necessary.