Nycole Turmel

[Canada Post, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, by attacking Canada Post as they have, the Conservatives have driven a stake into the economic heart of the regions. The Conservatives claim that there is a moratorium on closing rural post offices, but since 2006, 164 of them have closed their doors. Residents are talking about the negative impact on their communities and are unhappy with the quality of service, which is plummeting.

Why are the Conservatives attacking services for people who live in the regions?

[Petitions, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions, signed mainly by people in the riding of Hamilton Mountain. The petitions are about cuts to Canada Post and are calling on the government to reverse its decision regarding these cuts. I am pleased to present these petitions on behalf of my colleague from Hamilton Mountain.

[Privacy Commissioner, June 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be sure that the Minister of Justice's vote is not counted because, in my opinion, he arrived after you began to call the vote.

[Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act, June 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with another member.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Bill C-26. We all agree that it is important to protect our children from any and all forms of violence, particularly sexual abuse.

Given that there are mothers, grandmothers, brothers and sisters who are living in families where there is sexual abuse, it is understandable that the government wants to find ways to prevent these sorts of things from happening and pass bills in this regard. That is not my situation. I have been lucky in life, but I have heard the testimony of families where there has been abuse. We are going to support this bill, but we disagree with the fact that, once again, it refers only to punishment and not necessarily to prevention, training, resources and assistance.

I would like to read a comment that was made by Clayton Ruby, a defence lawyer and author of the textbook Sentencing. He said:

The minimums, especially consecutive minimums, don’t leave room for considering the individual offender and the nature of the offence. Government doesn’t trust the judges. They appoint them, but they don’t trust them. It’s all about control.

I would like to talk about a particular situation. Today, I spoke with Mr. Michaud, the director of the Centre d'intervention en abus sexuels pour la famille. He talked to me more about the guidance and help we can provide to the family than he did about punishment. First and foremost, there are statistics. He said that 90% of the attackers are known to the child. Often, the victim is torn by the affection he or she might have for the attacker, and it is even worse when that person is the father. The family ends up torn apart in this situation. The longer the sentence, the greater the impact it will have on the family. That has to be taken into consideration. All that to say that training, prevention and methods for helping the family are very important.

Mr. Michaud also said that if we want a program to succeed, then we must truly provide support to the entire family. He said that when the mother learns that one of her children was sexually abused, it is doubly hard and often she feels guilty for the rest of her days. That means that if we do not have the means to help them, then nothing will come of it. People have to look for help. Help is available. It can be found.

Stress levels are going up and needs are becoming greater.

What he would like to have is help in the form of tools to assess the aggressive behaviour or what happened and develop a standard protocol for assessing the risk of reoffending . He says that, in general, without providing statistics, the assessment shows that many people do not reoffend. However, if they are taken out of their environment and the family is placed in a difficult situation, the risk of reoffending is higher. That is what the director of the crisis centre deplored.

For society in general, we have to find the means to help people. We must ensure that all the people and families affected receive some assistance. Naturally, there must be a punishment. These people have to realize how they have hurt their families.

However, I would like to come back to what Mr. Michaud was telling me. Victims often feel guilty. They feel twice as guilty when the family is affected and when they wonder what will happen with regard to means of co the situation.

We therefore need to address the overall problem, not deal with it on a case-by-case basis. We need to ensure that sexual offenders receive harsh sentences. We also need to provide support for victims and their families.

All too often we forget that the family is affected, and I am talking here about the extended family. Often family includes friends and everyone around the victim. We need to help victims speak out against their abusers and cope with this very difficult ordeal.

Over the past few years, organizations' budgets have been cut. There is less and less help available in the community. We need to go back to square one.

After all these bills were passed, we saw an increase in delinquency and crime.

I want to ensure that families and organizations get help and that victims feel reassured about everything that is happening in their lives.

[Veterans Hiring Act, June 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my colleague a question. He is very knowledgeable, and I really respect what he has done for veterans. I used to be in the union world—the Conservatives often accuse me of being a union leader—and I worked with him back in the day. We did amazing work to help veterans.

For me, this bill raises questions about veterans' needs and their transition, especially the younger ones who come back after several years, look for a job and have a hard time reintegrating into society in general.

Does this bill meet expectations? Does it provide the financial means to help veterans find decent work that meets their expectations and their needs, as well as those of their families? Will they find work that will help them complete the transition and cope with the health problems, both physical and psychological, that they have developed during their years of service?

I would like my colleague to answer my question and talk some more about this issue.

[International Development, May 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, promising money is all well and good, but it is even better to ensure that this money is well spent. Four years after the Muskoka announcement, we still do not know how much money was spent or where it was spent.

The Lancet recently criticized the Conservatives' financial opacity. Even the UN is unable to get a full picture of the commitments made in 2010. After the Muskoka boondoggle, how can we believe the Conservatives when they promise more transparency with respect to development assistance?

[International Development, May 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' ideological stubbornness is appalling. They refuse to contribute to the United Nations Population Fund because the fund supports family planning and reproductive health, which are topics that make their anti-choice friends unhappy. However, 800 women die every day in developing countries as a result of pregnancies, deliveries or botched abortions.

Why do the Conservatives refuse to fund these groups that provide safe and legal treatment, particularly in the case of rape?

[Committees of the House, May 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague for the international work he has done and for the role he plays in the House to promote the first nations and his ancestors. It is very encouraging. He does everything he can to speak out against certain things and promote the causes that are close to his heart.

Since we do not talk about it often, I would like to hear about his experience in negotiating treaties and have his take on the Canadian government at the time compared to today. This is very important. Could he share his views on the different roles and what role he played at the time?

[Victims Bill of Rights, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

I agree that it should be automatic. In fact, that suggestion came up during my discussion with the person in charge of victims' assistance centres in the Outaouais. They have the resources to follow up with victims and support them. I found that very interesting. There is never enough ongoing help for victims. They should not have to wait or keep going back to get information. I think that should be automatic.

[Victims Bill of Rights, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question, which gets right to the heart of what people think and what they are saying about help for victims and about bills.

It is all well and good to pass bills but all of these crisis centres need money and resources. I spoke with the Centres d'aide et de lutte contre les agressions sexuelles or CALAS, who have been operating for years despite a lack of resources and support. Doing all of this work is taking a toll on them but they continue to do it and they continue to have someone available 24/7.

It is therefore a great pity that the government did not complete this bill by providing the means to fulfill its ambitions in order to help people and provide the funding necessary to put a stop to this type of violence and decrease the number of victims.

I encourage anyone who needs help to contact these organizations. I am going to post the addresses and telephone numbers on my Facebook page. I encourage the women and men who are listening to me today and who have something to say, to speak out. They will get the support they need.