Justice committee  I would agree with everything my colleague said. I don't have anything to add.

Justice committee  I'd be happy to.

Justice committee  Yes, certainly in cases where children are involved, having an adult in that role would make a lot more sense.

Justice committee  I do agree, and the Criminal Code allows for the use of testimonial aids. My concern is that they're not being utilized as fully as they need to be. Children are particularly vulnerable as victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system, and there are additional things we ca

Justice committee  Certainly I can't speak for the whole country, but across Ontario there are courthouses that don't have closed-circuit television equipment available. Often prosecutors and judges are reluctant to bring it in because it's cumbersome and expensive, that kind of thing. I think the

Justice committee  Yes, I agree.

Justice committee  I like the fact that there is now a standardized victim impact statement. In Ontario the questions that were included previously in victim impact statements for children made no sense—you know, asking children how many days of work they missed and things like that. They didn't ha

Justice committee  I think it would be helpful if we saw sentences where offenders were actually incarcerated long enough for them to look different. Unfortunately, we don't see the kinds of sentences in child sexual abuse and child physical abuse cases that we would like to see, but I think the mo

Justice committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today about Bill C-32, the Canadian victims bill of rights. Boost has worked in Toronto for more than 30 years to support children who have been abused. We have worked with tens of thousands of child victims to offer

Justice committee  Absolutely, and I would also commend the government for having established a fund to develop child and youth advocacy centres across the country. It is a very big step in terms of offering specialized services to children who are victims of abuse, and it will bring together all o

Justice committee  Certainly. I do know Ellen Campbell, and I know her opinion on this. I would agree with much of what she would say. When a child discloses sexual abuse, it takes a lot of courage for them to do that. Generally it's something they have lived with for quite a long time--in some ca

Justice committee  I don't feel that a perpetrator should ever be left in the home under any circumstances until there's been an opportunity for treatment, particularly treatment for the victim, treatment for the offender, and a process for the family. The victim's best interest always needs to com

Justice committee  I do. In particular, I welcome the new laws that will allow the police to intervene earlier when an offender is trying to contact a child—sending pictures, beginning the grooming process—and when adults contact other adults about children. We've seen cases where—and nobody would

Justice committee  We see about 500 children in the Toronto and central Ontario area go through the courts every year. I would even go further and say the likelihood of a conviction is not great. So we don't even get to the point of sentences in many cases. The families that we work with express a

Justice committee  I think you're right, but I would also argue that there aren't resources in the communities either to provide treatment.