Justice committee  I'm going to let Ms. London-Weinstein deal with that question.

Justice committee  In Bedford, as we know, there was just a massive evidentiary record that was amassed by Professor Alan Young and others. Presumably this would be challenged very soon after the legislation came into force. One of the first charges laid, I'm assuming, would lead to that challenge,

Justice committee  The short answer is that I think it would obviously include lap dancing. That sounds like a sexual service to me. Just a preamble here, when we talk about leaving things to the court to interpret, there's a cost associated with that when we arrest people and then we let the court

Justice committee  She's already taken 21 seconds of my time.

Justice committee  I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chair, for having us here. It's obviously very important that we have this dialogue on a very important piece of legislation. The Criminal Lawyers' Association focuses on the constitutional aspects of Bill C-36, and in particular whether it may survive

Justice committee  I have a copy here. I can provide that.

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me the opportunity to respond. I haven't had a chance to review the full decision. I believe I've read the same obiter dictum that Mr. Chair just read with respect to the Alberta Court of Appeal. I haven't read the original decision, and I wou

Justice committee  Perhaps I could just add something about the American experience. Different states in the United States, including Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, and North Dakota, have all passed laws eliminating some of these mandatory minimum sentences. There's a trend in other c

Justice committee  I don't offhand, no.

Justice committee  I would think so, yes.

Justice committee  Yes. The abundance of case law, including the cases from the Ontario Court of Appeal, suggests that when the victim is a child, and in particular when the offender is in a position of trust or authority, jail is the norm. I don't think they would say that it's in 100% of cases.

Justice committee  I think that's certainly one of the positive steps that can be taken up front. That way, when the time comes for sentencing, you're able to show that there were some steps taken. One of the things I was going to add before, which I think is still relevant here, is that we're deal

Justice committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members. I just want to start by making some introductory remarks. As with Mr. Spratt, I practise in a criminal law firm practising exclusively criminal law in Ottawa and surrounding jurisdictions. Really, my comments come fro