SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
March 7, 2024 09:00AM
  • Mar/7/24 11:10:00 a.m.

I just want to cast back to last year, when the member from Oakville North–Burlington brought a motion forward on Keira’s Law, saying that we should require that judges take mandatory training, as they come to the bench, and JPs take mandatory training, as they take their positions, on sexual assault and sexual violence. Do you know what happened with that motion? It was unanimously supported by this House, Mr. Speaker. When we then incorporated Keira’s Law into the Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act, 2023, everybody in the House spoke in favour of that piece of legislation.

When we talk about diversity and we want to increase the diversity of the bench, people say, “Absolutely, you need to do that.” And when we talk about raising awareness of victims’ perspectives and issues, people say, “Absolutely.” And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker—you know where this is going—when we say we want to have tough-on-crime judges and JPs, the House says, “Oh, no, no. We can’t have a perspective.” Well, we do have a—

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