44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 8, 2022 02:00PM
- Jun/8/22 2:30:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have a question about crime. I want to talk about Bill C-5 and mandatory minimums, and I want to offer a very personal story.
When I was a small child, my mother practised law in northern Alberta. She did a lot of legal aid work and the overwhelming majority of her clients were indigenous. She would take me court and sometimes she would take me with her to reserves, and I saw first-hand how our criminal justice system treats indigenous peoples. Our government is fixing that and everyone in the House should be supportive of that.
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- Jun/8/22 2:31:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide a very personal answer to that question.
When I was a child, my mother worked as a lawyer in northern Alberta and did a lot of legal aid work. Many of her clients were indigenous people. When I was a child, I witnessed, in the courts and sometimes on reserves, how our country and our justice system treated indigenous people. We need to fix that. Our government will do it. I hope all members will help us.
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- Jun/8/22 2:40:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is incomprehensible. Canadians simply do not buy this Liberal logic. According to Liberal logic, the justice minister's bill tackles racism by decreasing jail time for gun crimes, but the public safety minister's bill tackles racism by increasing jail time for the exact same crimes.
They cannot have it both ways, so which one is it?
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- Jun/8/22 2:41:26 p.m.
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I believe members were very excited to have two people rise to speak, so we will just calm down and let one proceed.
The hon. Minister of Justice can begin from the top, please.
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- Jun/8/22 2:46:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we have said all along, the government will co-operate with Justice Rouleau. We will co-operate with the joint parliamentary committee to be transparent because I agree with my colleague that we need to scrutinize the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
My point is that the facts are very clear. We were in the midst and in the throes of an unprecedented public order emergency in the opinion of non-partisan, professional law enforcement. When we sought their advice about which powers were needed to restore public safety, we listened to them and we invoked to restore public safety.
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- Jun/8/22 3:07:47 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Mr. Speaker, serious offences will always be punished in a serious manner.
The situation that my colleague just described is not a situation targeted by Bill C‑5. This bill addresses situations that are not a threat to public safety. Bill C‑5 seeks to address the overrepresentation of Black and indigenous people in the justice system.
That is precisely what we are doing.
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- Jun/8/22 3:10:15 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-5
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Harper's tough-on-crime policy was a complete failure. We have managed to fill our prisons with indigenous people and Black people. We have prevented the system from working properly, because minimum sentences slow down the justice system.
Around the globe, and especially in the United States, where the Conservatives drew their inspiration 15 years ago, authorities are doing away with minimum sentences because they do not work. We are here to do a better job of protecting society.
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