Justice committee  The mental health issues that young people are facing are staggering—depression, and suicide. I just think of the pressure that young people are under. And then there are people who come from broken families. And then there's the Internet and what they're exposed to. And there's

Justice committee  Yes. The issue of someone's not being criminally responsible because of mental illness has been in our Criminal Code forever. In other words, we don't punish someone who doesn't understand the nature and quality of his or her act. However, what we are faced with in this country a

Justice committee  In relation to the mental health courts, they do exist and they're growing throughout the country. Some mental health court provisions have monitoring, not just assessments. Toronto is a good example of a place with mental health courts that continue with monitoring. These are be

Justice committee  Some persons suffer throughout their lives and it would never change. But with the help of experts, doctors, and treatment programs, a judge would have some level of comfort that the risk is being minimized. Nothing is forever; there's always a risk. But if there's enough evidenc

Justice committee  Okay. Sorry.

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Cotler. What I was saying was that if it's demonstrated that a mental health issue has contributed to the offence, it's in the interest of all of us that it be dealt with, including delaying sentencing for a treatment program to be successfully completed. It allo

Justice committee  Quite frankly, Mr. Cotler, we were surprised that mental health was not mentioned in the bill, because it's something that every one of the parties is concerned about, and it tracks the drug prevention section. Also, in the section on release from prison you'll find that mental h

Justice committee  I think the statistics indicate that after sentencing, 37% of persons in our correctional facilities are suffering from a mental disorder of some nature. That was a statistic presented at the conference, “Building Bridges: Mental Health and the Justice System in Calgary”.

Justice committee  I think my answer to the question is this. If it's recognized that a mental health or health issue is connected to the offence, then obviously that should be taken into consideration by the court. Our proposal says, just as with drug treatment, that the judge can delay sentencing

Justice committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. I was thinking this morning as I got on a plane that the CCCDL, the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers, will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, and throughout the years, we have appreciated the opport

Justice committee  I think if you do careful studies and call experts, you're going to find that violent crime is down right across the country. You will find, however, that there are pockets where violent crime seems to be on the increase, and you've addressed this issue in relation to your organi

Justice committee  Well, there's no question. Nobody in this room--whether we're defence counsel, crown, police, legislator, or whatever—none of us likes violent crime. But you don't sledgehammer it. What you do is gather experts and ask whether there really is a problem. And fine-tuning is quite d

Justice committee  Can I respond very quickly? There are two terms. One is serious offence, and serious offence is that grab bag of offences that you referred to for which the punishment is more than five years. That is the jumping-off point for a pre-trial detention. We're concerned about that, b

Justice committee  The bill is not easy. In an attempt to be clear and clarify terms, the bill raises new issues about serious offences, serious violence offences, etc. Let me respond to this. The existing text of subsection 29(2) has been replaced, and this is bail. The previous subsection 29(2)

Justice committee  I think what you're all looking for is a balance. So I think you take the words that you find are missing and you try to incorporate them in the preamble. Accountability is part of the act. It's already there, holding young people accountable. You can import “protection of the pu