Mr. Speaker, I stand today to speak to Bill C-9, an act to eliminate the availability of conditional sentences for serious offenders.
Bill C-9 flows from the government's clear commitment to Canadians to ensure that house arrest is no longer available for those who commit serious or violent crimes. As stated in section 718 of the Criminal Code, the fundamental purpose of sentencing is “to contribute... to respect for the law and the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society”.
Conditional sentences were never intended for serious offences. The conditional sentence of imprisonment is currently available for offenders sentenced to a term of imprisonment of less than two years and for offences not punishable by a minimum term of imprisonment.
In order to grant a conditional sentence, the court must also be satisfied that sentencing the offender to serve time in the community is not inconsistent with the fundamental purpose of sentencing or with sentencing objectives, such as general deterrence, denunciation and separation of the offender from society. The court must also be satisfied that allowing the offender to serve his or her sentence in the community will not endanger the safety of the community.
However, in recent years we have witnessed far too many instances of improper use of this type of sentence. The public has had a great deal of concern about cases in which persons convicted of very serious offences have been permitted to serve their sentences in the community, often in the luxury of their own homes and with minimal safeguards to ensure compliance with the conditions of their sentence. Canadians find it hard to understand how such sentences comply with the fundamental purpose and principles of sentencing.
As a former justice minister said in debates about conditional sentencing on April 10, 1997:
--all of us believe that anyone who commits a serious violent crime should be imprisoned as a penalty for that kind of crime.
Indeed, conditional sentences were never intended for use in cases of serious criminality.
As the Prime Minister stated on April 3, 2006, before the Canadian Professional Police Association:
And the safe streets and safe neighbourhoods that Canadians have come to expect as part of our way of life are threatened by rising levels of crime. Drug crime is on the rise. Gang crime is on the rise. And the homicide rate is on the rise as well.
That is exactly why during the last general election, this party, the Conservative Party, committed to end the availability of conditional sentences for those offenders convicted of serious crimes.
Bill C-9 would end conditional sentences for offences prosecuted by indictment and punishable by a maximum of 10 years or more, both under the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The implementation of this threshold will serve to capture the kinds of offences which deserve real punishment. It will also prohibit a number of serious property and administration of justice offences from being disposed of by way of conditional sentence.
In far too many cases, accused persons who have engaged in significant frauds, often involving breaches of trust, have walked out of court into relatively comfortable house arrest situations. These offenders would no longer have that option available to them.
The bill is based on the principle that conditional sentences ought to be used only in situations for which they were originally intended. This is for relatively minor cases, cases deserving of lenience and cases which do not offend the community's sense of justice.
Conditional sentences would no longer be available for sexual offences, such as sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. Most sexual offences committed against children are already covered by mandatory minimum sentences because of the passage of Bill C-2 in the last Parliament. Conditional sentences would also not be available for other serious personal injury offences, such as impaired driving causing bodily harm or death and serious property and administration of justice offences, like robbery, arson and theft over $5,000.
No longer would sentences be available for very serious crimes, such as criminal negligence causing death, manslaughter, impaired driving causing death, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, kidnapping, attempted murder and torture. Until this bill is made law, each and every one of those heinous crimes could, according to our current law, result in a conditional sentence or house arrest.
When was house arrest ever appropriate in dealing with a person who uses a weapon in committing a sexual assault on another human being? Never, and it is time we recognized that.
This government has done more than simply recognize and talk about the problem, as our predecessors did. With the introduction of Bill C-9, we have taken steps to solve the problem once and for all. We call on all parties to join with us in working toward a system of justice that Canadians can believe in, a justice system that Canadians can have faith in because they know it is serving their best interests.
This bill will look at crime from the perspective of the victim: the man, woman or child who has suffered at the hands of another. For too long have we sacrificed the protection of victims in favour of lenient sentences for serious offenders. With the passage of Bill C-9, this trend will come to an end.
We propose to restructure the conditional sentence regime with the safety of Canadians top of mind, not as an afterthought. In the few circumstances where an offender has committed a serious criminal act and the court truly believes that greater leniency is appropriate, it can still achieve this end through a suspended sentence or probation. However, the government sees those responses as being appropriate in only a limited number of circumstances.
The government is also committed to addressing the problem of drugs in our community. Serious drug offenders, be they producers, traffickers or importers, are responsible for the destruction of the lives of thousands of citizens, their families and the communities in which we all live. This devastation must be met by real penalties, namely, the separation of individuals who prey on their fellow citizens from the rest of society. Those who manage the trade of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin have no place on our streets.
According to the latest data available from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, between 1994 and 2004 the number of drug offences increased by a full 61%. In 2003-04, 34.6% of drug trafficking convictions resulted in a conditional sentence of imprisonment. That is simply not acceptable. That is why Bill C-9 would also eliminate the availability of conditional sentences for serious drug offenders.
The imposition of a conditional sentence for a serious drug offence would be inconsistent with the fundamental purpose, principles and objectives of sentencing. Conditional sentences do not provide reparations for the harm done to the community by the drug offender and do not adequately promote a sense of responsibility in such offenders. The imposition of conditional sentences in cases of serious drug crime is not proportional to the degree of responsibility of the offender and the seriousness of the offence.
It is worth mentioning that in 2003-04 conditional sentences represented approximately 5% of all sentences handed down in Canada, or a total of 15,493 sentences. In terms of the overall impact of Bill C-9, it is expected that approximately one-third of those would be affected by this sentencing reform.
The bill targets indictable offences. In the case of hybrid offences, that is, those which can be prosecuted by way of summary conviction or by indictment, conditional sentences will remain an option where the Crown chooses to proceed by way of summary conviction. Police and prosecutors will have to exercise their discretion to ensure that relatively minor offences are prosecuted appropriately.
These are changes we have heard being demanded by provincial attorneys general, mayors, victims' groups and law enforcement authorities from across Canada. These are the people on the front lines of crime control. They have been clear in their calls for common sense justice and the need to punish serious crime with penalties that are more severe than house arrest.
We acknowledge concerns that Bill C-9 may increase correctional costs. These cost increases will vary, depending on the percentage of offenders who receive jail sentences and the average length of those sentences. As the Minister of Justice explained during his news conference on May 4 following the tabling of the bill, the costs related to Bill C-9 could be covered by unallocated funds given to the provinces as a result of equalization payments.
It is the belief of this government that a properly structured conditional sentence with tailored conditions is an appropriate sentencing tool in some cases. Conditional sentences are not, however, an appropriate tool in the most serious cases.
This sentencing reform does not purport to modify or change the fundamental purpose or principles of sentencing contained in the Criminal Code. However, with respect to serious matters, it implicitly requires courts to focus principally on the objectives of denunciation, general deterrence and incapacitation.
These reforms would help keep our streets safe by ending the use of conditional sentences, including house arrest, for serious offences. The reforms contained in this bill would ensure a cautious and more appropriate use of conditional sentences, reserving them for the less serious offences that pose a low risk to community safety.
Not only would this legislation make practical, substantive amendments to the Criminal Code, it would improve public confidence in the use of conditional sentences and sentencing generally, a public confidence that we have seen lost recently. Justice will be done and it will be seen to be done. Using conditional sentences only in appropriate cases not only will strengthen public confidence in the administration of justice, but it will serve as a warning to those who engage in serious crime that if they offend they will be dealt with firmly by Canada's criminal justice system.
