44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2021 11:00AM
- Dec/13/21 1:17:45 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, I am rising to join this important debate on Bill C-5. I am speaking today from the unceded territory of the Algonquin and Anishinabe people in Canada's House of Commons.
This bill that is being debated today, and the changes it proposes to make to the Criminal Code of Canada, are critical to addressing systemic racism and systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system. Anyone who has been listening to this morning's debate knows quite clearly at this point that we are facing a very serious issue. That issue is the overrepresentation of Black and indigenous persons in our criminal justice system, primarily Black and indigenous men.
How did we get to this situation? We have prepared legislation, tabled it in the last Parliament and retabled it in this Parliament because we have fundamentally listened to experts I had the privilege to consult with in my capacity as parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice in the last Parliament. We have also listened to Canadians, among whom are my constituents in Parkdale—High Park. We have been seized with certain issues that relate to challenges not just with individual acts of discrimination, vis-à-vis one particular person or group of people, but rather norms and rules that embody our systems and our institutions. There is no more robust place to do the hard work and the heavy lifting that goes into addressing systemic racism than the criminal justice system of Canada.
We know that Canadians in every riding in this country were seized by the videos we saw of George Floyd. Things were also occurring here in Canada with respect to indigenous populations. We could talk about the response of law enforcement to the Mi'kmaq fishers on the east coast. We could talk about RCMP officers and the overuse of violent force with Inuit individuals in Canada's far north. These images, stories and issues really captivated our nation. That is why we are here today acting and mobilizing on that sentiment. We are here to listen to those voices and act upon them.
We have also consulted the statistics, and they are startling. In 2020, despite representing 5% of the Canadian adult population, indigenous adults accounted for 30% of federally incarcerated inmates. That is a sixfold increase. That is reprehensible. I think I heard that from across the way. Although Black individuals represent 3% of the Canadian population, in 2018-19 they represented 7.2% of the federal offender population. This was more than a twofold increase.
What I have heard from my constituents in Parkdale—High Park and from people right around this country is that we need to act. That is why we are taking action now, specifically as it relates to Black and indigenous persons and other persons of colour. There is a unanimous sense I have heard that there is a need to take action.
Today, we are talking about a bill that would do so in three areas. Before I touch on those, I want to outline two broad themes that underlie the points I am making today. The first point is that we need to tackle systemic racism. The second point is that on this side of the chamber, we are a government that believes in judicial discretion. That is fundamental because it will underpin what I am going to speak about.
First, Bill C-5 would repeal mandatory minimum penalties or imprisonment for certain, but not all, offences to address the disproportionate impact on indigenous and Black offenders as well as those struggling with substance abuse and addiction, as appropriately raised by the member for Vancouver East. Second, it would allow for greater use of conditional sentence orders, or CSOs in the legal parlance, when an offender faces a term of less than two years' imprisonment and does not pose a threat to public safety. Third, it would address issues dealing with drugs, opioids and addiction in this country by requiring police and prosecutors to consider measures other than laying charges or prosecution for simple possession of drugs, such as diverting individuals to addiction treatment programs.
In terms of the first category, we heard about mandatory minimum penalties ad nauseam during this morning's debate: why they exist and whether they are useful, etc. I rest on the side of the evidence. The evidence has shown us clearly that regardless of how they are imposed, who imposed them or how long they had been in place, mandatory minimums have only served to disproportionately impact men of colour in particular, but also indigenous women, by having them be overrepresented in our criminal justice system.
These are for crimes such as simple possession of narcotics, simple possession of a firearm, or a first-time offender using a firearm. More likely than not, people of colour are entrapped in the criminal justice system based on these charges, and more likely than not, because of the mandatory minimums they face jail time.
This is problematic because it eschews judicial discretion. We heard about this from the member for Whitby. He spoke about his family's experience, including his father's, and about what we need to do to ensure people are not sent down a certain path for the rest of their lives. The way we do that is by not putting people into a revolving-door situation of incarceration after incarceration where people are habituated to a life of criminality behind bars.
The way we do that is by ensuring there are other options available. One of those options is to give judges the tools they need to craft sentences that are appropriate for particular individuals. As a minor digression, that is what informs our motivation behind the impact of race and culture assessments, which we are also funding. We want to be able to look hard at accused individuals and understand their life circumstances, what got them to this place and how we can ensure they do not reappear in front of a court six months or six years from now on a repeat offence.
We want to get them out of a cycle of potential criminality and toward a cycle of productive life, contributing to our communities. By binding the hands of judges, we have seen exactly the opposite. The exact law and order methodology that is professed by members of the official opposition is turned on its head by this kind of blanket prohibition. All it does is produce more criminality, not less. That is why we are standing up against it.
Secondly, judges have spoken out against these types of penalties. Decision after decision rendered by courts as high as the Supreme Court of Canada has found these types of penalties unconstitutional. They violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. That is why we are taking action: We believe in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and adhering to it particularly when guided by the judiciary.
The impacts of these penalties have been legion. In terms of worsening over time, we know that in 1999 indigenous peoples represented approximately 2% of the adult population, but accounted for 17% of admissions to federal penitentiaries. By 2020, after a series of mandatory minimums were added to the Criminal Code by the previous Conservative government, 30% of the federal inmate population was indigenous. That is a trend in the wrong direction, and it is a trend we need to correct.
I do not want this bill to be mis-characterized. Canadians are watching, and I know it is not just our mothers and fathers who watch in the middle of the day. Other people watch the House of Commons in the middle of the day. They need to know that we are not purporting to get rid of mandatory minimum penalties for serious offenders. Mandatory minimums involving cases of firearms, and those who traffic, smuggle, commit repeated violent assault or murder using firearms, are not being targeted. We are targeting single, first-time offenders in low-level offences. That is who we do not want destined for lives of criminality.
The other serious issue that needs to be addressed concerns conditional sentencing orders. I want to emphasize that this is the old-fashioned notion of house arrest. It goes back to the point I made at the outset of my remarks today. If we want to ensure that individuals are not subjected or destined to lives of criminality, or lives interacting with the criminal justice system, one good way to ensure that is to ensure that they do not spend time behind bars for their first offence.
Instead, when they are not a significant threat to public safety and when they are not likely to reoffend, at that point in time we would subject them to a conditional sentence order. This would allow them to serve their sentence outside of incarceration, subject to certain restrictions. This is critical, because we need to ensure there is a penalty applied. However, by not having them placed behind bars, we do not subject people to lives of criminality.
We have seen that conditional sentence orders entrenched by Allan Rock, who was the Minister of Justice 26 years ago, were eroded over time by the previous Conservative government. We are trying to return to the status quo.
My last point is on drug diversion. This is critical. The reason we are doing this is simple: We are listening to the evidence in the city of Toronto and the city of Vancouver. We are listening to the Canadian chiefs of police who have advocated for this type of drug diversion, and we are listening to the director of public prosecutions. They have said that not having diversion clogs our system and renders it less effective in addressing the true cause of criminal behaviour.
These are important initiatives. They are threefold within this legislation. I hope all members will stand behind this important bill.
1663 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/21 1:28:28 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Montcalm for his question and I congratulate him on returning to the House.
I can emphasize that this bill is for simple offences, such as an individual violating the Criminal Code for the first time and in a minor way. For the more serious offences that the member raised, such as trafficking and importation, the penalties are more severe. We will certainly take those offences seriously, with corresponding and commensurate penalties.
79 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/21 1:29:52 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, as one point of clarification, this bill does not touch on issues such as drug trafficking. That is not a low-level drug offence. What this bill does touch on is mandatory minimums that relate to simple possession of narcotics and for people such as first-time offenders. That is point number one.
Vis-à-vis drugs and the opioid crisis, we are treating it as a health problem and not a justice problem. We have done that with our approach to safe supply. We have done that with our approach to safe injection sites. We will continue to do that as we consider requests from cities such as Vancouver and Toronto for things like the decriminalization of simple possession. This is critical in facing a battle against the opioid crisis, in which we all share responsibility.
139 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/21 1:31:15 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, I welcome the member for Edmonton Strathcona to the House after her re-election.
It is critical that this gets studied thoroughly at committee. That is very important. Having served on the justice committee for many years, I believe it is one of the best committees in Parliament in terms of its scrutiny of legislation that comes before it. Considering the timing of when it goes to committee, we have already commenced second reading debate, so the stage at which it would go to committee has already been addressed, and it would be following this second reading debate.
100 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/21 1:32:21 p.m.
- Watch
- Re: Bill C-5
Madam Speaker, it is fundamental. On this side of the House is a government that believes in the quality of our judiciary, as well as its ability to analyze an individual accused before the court and consider factors of social context, including systemic racism and discrimination, something we amended in legislation on judicial training in the last Parliament. That is exactly the kind of characterization that judges need to account for in allowing them to calibrate the penalty for an individual accused, which is fundamentally to avoid recidivism.
88 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Dec/13/21 2:07:29 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, today Ismailis here in Canada and around the world mark the 85th birthday of His Highness the Aga Khan. It is an important occasion, one that gives us a chance to reflect on the impact His Highness has had in his over 64 years as imam.
In 1972, the Aga Khan was pivotal in securing the safe arrival in Canada of thousands of Ugandan Asian refugees fleeing the dictatorship of Idi Amin, including me and my family. As an Ismaili representative in this House, I take great pride in the Aga Khan’s contributions. In Canada, these include the Aga Khan Museum, the Ismaili Centre in Toronto and the Global Centre for Pluralism right here in Ottawa, which exemplifies our shared values of inclusion and diversity.
Internationally, the Aga Khan’s commitment to health, economic development and children’s education in the developing world is renowned. It is this legacy that prompted the Government of Canada to confer upon the Aga Khan our highest tribute, that of honorary citizenship.
On this special day, I wish all of my fellow Ismailis Salgirah Khushali Mubarak. To His Highness, I say, “Happy birthday, Hazar Imam.”
199 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
