Justice committee  Thank you, Chair, and members of the committee. It's an honour to be asked to come back. And I understand that you have limited time, so my opening remarks will be brief. I want to recognize Graeme Hamilton, who is sitting behind me. He's a young lawyer from Toronto who was ver

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the committee, it's always an honour to come here. I must tell you that I feel particularly honoured to be with Mr. Henry today. This is what he speaks to, as a role model, and what's needed in these communities is a role model. I would almost wa

Justice committee  And yet when I read some of the testimony previously, and as I've appeared here over the years, the statistics are only as good as the information and the statisticians. So we're never going to solve this problem unless we're all on the same song sheet regarding the questions we

Justice committee  Mr. Murphy, can I just say very quickly one thing about--

Justice committee  It's reliability of the information. If you tell me something, then I can go and say that I believe because you told me, as I have first-hand knowledge. If you're telling me something as a result of a meeting that occurred with you and some other people, that is a little less rel

Justice committee  It may in certain circumstances.

Justice committee  I hope that when you are dealing with Bill C-4 and other proposed legislation that deals with youth justice, you take up a suggestion that I made some time ago that you hear from judges in camera who deal with these issues, because they're the best ones who can tell you about wha

Justice committee  As long as the judge makes the decision, I can live with it.

Justice committee  Not in detail.

Justice committee  Much more comfortable.

Justice committee  In relation to proceeds that are properly seized by the court, with all the balances that need to be put in place, I think that's probably a wise use for them--put them back into the community and make it known. No question about it. It should be something we promote. And that mi

Justice committee  Yes, I'm sure. And that is being proposed from the national symposium, which has really got off the ground by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. Let me just say one other thing that we haven't talked about but is really important. The public sometimes gets frustrated,

Justice committee  Can I just respond too, Mr. Comartin? I was thinking about this. If we take the police, we ask them to respond to two levels of what we'll call organized crime: the bikers and the community. In one area the police would be trying to infiltrate, and in the other, the community, th

Justice committee  Can I say, Mr. Comartin, that this is a difficult area because we're into labelling. One group gets together in a community to reflect cultural differences, as opposed to another group, having no father figure, who get together to have a sense of identity. Oftentimes at bail hear

Justice committee  We actually proposed something like that at a previous hearing. I think there's no question about it. That gives a balance, sends the message out, but it allows a judge to exercise his or her discretion and explain why in the particular circumstances of that case, of that person,