Public Safety committee  It hasn't been an issue that I've addressed since being appointed ombudsman, but I can tell you that in my previous victim advocacy work I would take a lot of direction on these issues from what the police say. I was funded by an organization, the police association, the resource centre.

Public Safety committee  One of the things that I've consistently heard from victims is that they really don't want to see the offender do this to somebody else. Sometimes that means keeping that individual in prison for a long time. Realistically, that's what needs to happen, but victims have a real interest in seeing offenders come out of prison different from when they went in.

Public Safety committee  Sorry...?

Public Safety committee  I worked in a non-government world, so they probably would have turned to victims' advocacy groups and--

Public Safety committee  The government's taken a lot of positive steps and built on some of the successes of other governments. They've enhanced the funding for parole hearings. The new funding for Canadians who are victimized abroad is an extremely important proposal. There's been a lot of really important progress in the victims' world since 2007.

Public Safety committee  We identified early on from the calls we were getting and the research that exists that of the total costs of crime, corrections, police, all those things, it's really victims who bear almost 70% of the costs of crime in Canada. We know that's a real issue, and we heard from people about the challenges they have.

Public Safety committee  With regard to the advocacy centres, that's true.

Public Safety committee  Other than the acknowledgement of the letter, we didn't actually receive a response yes or no.

Public Safety committee  We recommended a national strategy in our Internet report last June. We haven't gotten a response to that report yet. We also recommended this budget and last budget that there be a small pot of $5 million. We knew it was a small amount of money, but we also knew the fiscal times we were in and we wanted to be realistic.

Public Safety committee  I'm sure the committee has had debates about the value of the government's bills and their approach. I'm not here to speak about that. There's evidence that suggests it's the wrong way, and there are other people who think it prevents crime. That's a debate you'll have in Parliament.

Public Safety committee  That's right. I should mention briefly that I appreciate your comments from the start. I've actually always been encouraged by any minister we've had to speak freely. I respect that the government has given us this opportunity to do that.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I think there are many different ways. I think a lot of it depends on, to be blunt, with scarce resources, what crimes do you want to prevent? I think we could focus our efforts in an area of importance, which has always been children, with advocacy centres. We know there's a segment of children who are abused who will go on to abuse others or themselves.

Public Safety committee  Yes, but it depends on what study you have. Certainly some studies suggest that sex offenders might exaggerate how much they were victims to minimize what they've done, but there is a segment of those who abuse children who themselves were abused. I mean, our prisons are full of people who have been abused.

Public Safety committee  I believe it would be. And with regard to the exploited youth on the streets, if we could change the public discussion from being that these are just hookers on the streets and we don't need to care about them to being that these are our children on the street who are being sexually assaulted every day, that would awaken the minds of those who are actually engaging in those activities as well.

Public Safety committee  I can tell you that this issue was a priority for us almost immediately: making sure that law enforcement had access to the information they needed to not just find the offenders but to sometimes actually find children, find victims, in those homes and stop abuse. I remember in 2007, then Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Stockwell Day, said that the government was not going to move in that way.