Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, members of the committee, for inviting me. I'll read from my text a bit, and I may depart occasionally. I believe you've all received it. I appear before you today as a representative of the Seventh Step Society of Canada and also as a

Public Safety committee  It's a hard question to answer. I certainly think it would have been more difficult for me, maybe in a personal sense and in my own view of what I had accomplished. I would have been very close under this new proposed change, because I had three indictable offences. Two happened

Public Safety committee  I'd just like to comment on Sheldon's comment that a lot of people who are perpetrators are also victims and have many other underlying reasons for why they committed offences. In response to that, yes, I think it's important to separate the number of offences. Three is such an

Public Safety committee  I'm going to read a prepared statement. Hopefully, I can keep it within the seven minutes. I appear here today as a proponent of parole and its use as part of the reintegration process for incarcerated persons. I wish to acknowledge that the death of Marylène Levesque was an unf

Public Safety committee  Thank you. My recommendation is that this one tragedy not become an event that unduly affects a highly effective parole release system but instead serves as an opportunity for improvement and increased security for the community. Thank you for your time. I welcome any question

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Lightbound. I think preparation in the institution is one of the most important parts of reintegration. I just want to say one thing as well, in case it doesn't get picked up somewhere else. As in this particular case, I think any case in which there is intimate

Public Safety committee  Yes. First of all, it is voluntary. In fact, the groups are self-selecting. Unlike AA, for a person to become a member in a 7th Step group, they actually have to be accepted and voted in unanimously by the members in the group, because it's essentially based on trust and commitme

Public Safety committee  Yes. I think you'd have to pose that question to current Parole Board members, but in the past, yes. We have written letters of support. We've had feedback from Parole Board members. In my experience.... As I mentioned, I've been involved in the criminal justice system on the out

Public Safety committee  Oh, sorry.

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry. I got lost in the process. Could you quickly repeat your question, please?

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry.

Public Safety committee  Primarily, I think because we're a volunteer-based organization, we do get some support funding from Public Safety for volunteer development. To answer your question, though, in fact we are in the process of starting a chapter in Montreal, so that will be changing fairly soon. O

Public Safety committee  We try to distribute information in the institutions and through other community organizations. For example, I mentioned earlier that I sit on the board of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice, which includes all the criminal justice community organizations. I men

Public Safety committee  Thank you.

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned before—and somebody else commented on it—a case like this, especially a case of intimate partner violence, is somewhat unique, at least among the people I've been involved with who have committed murder. I think there has to be a very intensive psychological assess