Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Paul Chartrand. I teach law in the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan. I thank the committee for inviting me. I am here at the invitation of the committee. I belong to no political party. I have never belonged to any political

Justice committee  I didn't get the name. I'm a little hard of hearing.

Justice committee  I've not heard of him.

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe the honourable member of the committee, Mr. Thompson, has asked me two questions. I would like to address them properly so as to respond to the questions fully. Mr. Chairman, I ask your assistance, please. Would you ask Mr. Thompson to elabora

Justice committee  I'm sorry, I'm unable to identify any—

Justice committee  —any particular actual category there. It's totally abstract, who might oppose the bill, so I'll ignore—

Justice committee  —that gratuitous comment and do my best to address the substantive questions, Mr. Chairman. First of all, he asked if the cost of crime ought to be addressed and I say, definitely. And I mentioned in particular that the effect of these sentences would be felt disproportionately

Justice committee  I think it will not help and would most likely make the situation significantly worse.

Justice committee  There are many statistics. I can try to dig some of them out. I myself try to avoid these mysterious digits and leave most of that work to criminologists and other social scientists. But I know the statistics that have been compiled both by government agencies and by independent