Justice committee  But it could be, and that is what the statute says. In fact the statute doesn't even suggest, by my reading of proposed paragraph 672.64(1)(b), that you're looking at future behaviour. You're looking at a past incident. At least in proposed paragraph 672.64(1)(a) you are lookin

Justice committee  The evidence I've seen is the review boards are pretty good at determining whether somebody constitutes an ongoing risk, and if they do, they don't release them. The perpetrator in Lori's offence would be a good example of that. I think it's also important, though, to be able t

Justice committee  The John Howard Society was not consulted. It's important for you to have a variety of voices offering different perspectives to give you an opportunity to make adjustments and improve the quality of the legislative framework that you're dealing with.

Justice committee  Thank you very much. It's a great pleasure to be here today to talk to you about Bill C-54. I'm speaking on behalf of the John Howard Society of Canada, which is a community-based charity committed to supporting effective, just, and humane responses to the causes and consequenc

Justice committee  I think the criminals, or the offender, should be held accountable for their wrongdoing to the extent to which the measure of accountability can be applied to make the lives of victims easier or better through restitution, provision of services for victims, or participating in re

Justice committee  Well, I mean, you can get into—

Justice committee  Pardon me?

Justice committee  Restitution is also if I steal your diamond ring and I have it in my hand, I should give it back to you, right?

Justice committee  Well, we can look at the definitions—

Justice committee  We can get into a legal—

Justice committee  I'm not at all confident that they will be able to meet that obligation. The fact of the matter is that a lot of people who are marginalized and impoverished are charged with offences, and they may have committed those offences—I'm not denying that. But to scrape together the add

Justice committee  No, I'm talking about the fine itself, not the surcharge.

Justice committee  Proportionate and fair is based on a variety of things. It looks at the sentencing principles and it looks at the seriousness of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender. It's a measure that reflects those two components.

Justice committee  I agree with you. It depends on what amount of fine the judge decides to impose in a particular circumstance.

Justice committee  I think you point to an interesting issue. I would say they're probably fair, but I think your issue is the consistent waiving of the surcharges and how to address that. I'm not sure that making them mandatory is the way to address the judicial determination to waive them.