Justice committee  Currently, if a crime everyone finds repugnant is committed, there will be a great deal of publicity. It will be talked about everywhere and we will see the abuser. What is the point of saying that we will really cause harm to that abuser if in addition to that, his name is added

Justice committee  Thank you very much. I'm going to talk in French; it's better for me. Minimum sentences are also a message that is sent to victims. There are several of us around this table. Overcoming what happened represents an enormous challenge for victims. As a victim and the representati

Justice committee  Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Our unqualified support for Bill C-26 is not only ideological, it is also based on a series of painful personal experiences. Our objective is not to punish the abusers more severely, but to offer better protection to the victims, to see appro

Justice committee  What do you mean by “crystallize” rights?

Justice committee  Looking at what is happening, I wonder whether we are not on the way to creating an empty shell that basically almost no one will work with. Crown prosecutors will not use it. Victims will not even be told it exists. They will show up at the criminal trial without having been tol

Justice committee  My inclination would be to tell you that the bill is a start. What are we doing for victims? Are we doing enough? Go back 20 years. Alain went through a criminal trial. He went to court against his aggressor when he was 14 years old. He testified against him. At that time, his

Justice committee  You are asking why all this should be codified. Why was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms created? The charter can be invoked in a good number of criminal cases. Is it invoked often? It exists, but our rights can be violated in a criminal trial. In case of reasonable doubt, the

Justice committee  I am not a legal expert. I am appearing as a victim.

Justice committee  I am appearing as an individual who has long been involved in this situation, as part of proceedings. I feel that tremendous progress has been made. Budget envelope or not, codification or not, regardless of things being taken too far or consideration being given to clause 17. Th

Justice committee  What will be the extent of that discretion? That is the question. We think that clause 20 is important because it sets out parameters. In Canada, crimes are codified. We have the Criminal Code. These types of decisions are not made under the common law. In civil court, judges c

Justice committee  Having experienced this in both civilian and criminal proceedings, I know that delays are a huge burden for victims because they prevent them from completing their healing process. They know full well that they will have to have a clear mind to be able to testify on what happened

Justice committee  Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for having us. My name is Frank Tremblay, and I am the vice-president of VASAM. Continuing with our presentation, I will speak to the issue of restitution orders. In cases of sexual assault, society often thinks that the damage is only psych