Justice committee  The fact that we're seeing people right now being provided in some provinces with the opportunity to work off fines.... This has been set up largely to offset the section 15 inequality that would exist if equal access to those programs were not available, something we haven't had

Justice committee  Part of the reason for the discrepancy depends on whether provinces, territories...and in the federal government context, the Parliamentary Budget Officer looked at capital expenditures as well as operating costs, which most correctional services don't when they categorize. The

Justice committee  Surcharge.

Justice committee  Do you mean the fine option program, the being able to work it off? I'm not certain what you mean.

Justice committee  Okay. Not every province has a fine option program. Even where fines are imposed, if someone can't pay, they may still end up in custody. They're not supposed to, and certainly the Supreme Court of Canada has addressed that issue, but they sometimes still do. That's true. Where

Justice committee  No. I worked for the John Howard Society once.

Justice committee  Many of our organizations do work with victims, so yes, and many of the women we work with.... I was just at the inquest into the death of Ashley Smith yesterday, so yes, we do.

Justice committee  Sorry, I missed part of the question.

Justice committee  It would be my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies to present to you. I'm happy to be here with a long-time colleague and friend, Sharon. We've known each other since Alberta days. I also want to say that I

Justice committee  It's even higher in our federal system. It's more than a third.

Justice committee  First, we would underscore that battered woman syndrome is not a defence. It's self-defence, and it's supposed to be taking into account the battering impact. Actually the syndrome has, I would suggest, contributed to some of the confusion, because it requires a pathologizing of

Justice committee  In terms of this issue?

Justice committee  Certainly in the years I've been doing this work, I haven't seen much benefit in keeping women in prison. There are certainly women who need to be separated from the community for periods of time. Certainly, we support people being held accountable.

Justice committee  Certainly, our vision is of women and girls in the community, contributing and being supported within the community. It's obviously not something we're likely to see happen, but it's something that we work towards. One of our basic principles is, if at all possible, particularly

Justice committee  If you don't mind, I'd like to add to those comments. Similarly, we are happy to see some changes to the law of self-defence. We are concerned in particular because we're dealing with the self-defence review of which we were a part and which the Department of Justice co-sponsor