SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 152

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 2, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 152 - Feb/2/23
Mr. Larry Brock (Brantford—Brant, CPC)
  • Feb/2/23 10:51:28 a.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, I encourage the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to reread the Supreme Court of Canada decision released last week. I am looking at it right now, and for the record, it is R. v. Hilbach. In a seven-to-two decision, that particular court indicated that the four- and five-year mandatory minimums for robbery with a firearm and robbery with a prohibited firearm were not grossly disproportionate, did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment and were charter-compliant, but the court opined that, given the results of Bill C-5, the issue was now moot, so I encourage the justice minister to reread that decision. My point, however, is that I heard him indicate earlier this week that he was open to suggestions and that he was looking for some ideas. He has literally heard from the provinces, police chiefs, premiers and interested parties, for close to 11 months now, crying out for bail reform. He is indicating that talks are in the works. Be specific, Minister. What are you doing?
175 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 152 - Feb/2/23
Mr. Randall Garrison
  • Feb/2/23 12:00:18 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, I think it is a concern that we sometimes do not pay enough attention to. A large number of Canadians who are never found guilty of anything have ended up spending a long period of time in detention before they were found not guilty of those offences. In particular, this falls heavily on indigenous people, racialized Canadians and Canadians who have low incomes. Unfortunately, it also falls heavily on new Canadians and on immigrants and refugees. The first solution to that, of course, is to have adequate funding for the justice system, so that we do not have such large delays before cases get dealt with in court. That is probably the easiest thing we could actually do. For a long time the appointment of judges was slow. The Liberal government took a long time to get going on this, but it has now been filling those vacancies more regularly. This will help cut those delays before people reach trial.
162 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 152 - Feb/2/23
Hon. David Lametti
  • Feb/2/23 2:55:21 p.m.
  • Watch
Mr. Speaker, Bill C-75 codified what were essentially Supreme Court decisions and made it harder to get bail in a number of cases. It did not change any of the severity of bail conditions for violent criminals, yet we are still going to look at other possibilities with the provinces to move forward to make Canadians feel safe.
59 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border