Justice committee  To me, you're bringing in some civil law concepts in the question of criminal law.

Justice committee  Yes, but the point is that your measure of accountability is not necessarily linked to the cost of your crime; it's linked to the seriousness of your offence and the degree of your responsibility. You're being held accountable for what you did, not necessarily for the broader fin

Justice committee  I'd be happy to talk to that—

Justice committee  Well, I'd be happy to—

Justice committee  This was an evaluation of the Federal Victims Strategy Evaluation, Final Report, 2012. In table 7, there is an indication for the “Provincial/Territorial Component of Victims Fund” showing that $16,475,000 was made available and that only $2,956,000 was actually spent, leaving a

Justice committee  First of all, I congratulate the government and would like to express the John Howard Society's support for the measures you have taken with respect to crime prevention. I think we're all on the same page on that. With respect to offenders contributing to the victims in overcom

Justice committee  That would be a very narrow perspective. There are elements of Bill C-10 that we supported. For example, there was a provision in the elements looking at youth justice where they were going to ensure that young people would not be housed with adults in the same facility. We suppo

Justice committee  We're not pitted against Bill C-37. We're pitted against the removal of the judicial discretion to not impose the victim surcharge if the person is unable to pay. That's a fairly fundamental principle of justice that has been reflected in fine provisions, that's embedded in the C

Justice committee  Well, I'm so pleased to have received the question. First of all, let me explain that the John Howard Society supports just, fair, and humane responses both for the offender and for the victims of crime and its consequences. We do believe that offenders need to be held fairly an

Justice committee  Well, Kim Pate is the executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies; she's not with John Howard and she doesn't speak to the John Howard position. I don't think that's really reflecting a 180-degree shift in John Howard thinking.

Justice committee  May I answer in English?

Justice committee  It is a long question, but I think you've hit on something very significant, which is that I think we would all like to see more programs available for victims. The question is—I think Professor Waller pointed to this as well—how are you proposing to fund that? You point to som

Justice committee  Thank you very much. As you know, the John Howard Society of Canada is a community-based charity committed to supporting effective, just, and humane responses to the causes and consequences of crime. The society has more than 60 front-line offices across the country, with many

Justice committee  I think you're quite right. Setting up a mandatory minimum fine creates a problem for the less affluent members of society who may run afoul of this law. So you're setting a little bit of an affluence distinction in terms of how onerous that particular penalty is. It is the same

Justice committee  Just going back to the principles, I think it is better to set the maximum and then allow a lot of latitude for the courts to determine how serious the offence actually was. We at John Howard, along with many other organizations, have problems with mandatory minimums generally, b