Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Welcome to the Senate, minister.

As part of the study of Bill C-5, which proposes to abolish 20 or so minor offences that have been identified as having disproportionate repercussions on Indigenous peoples, Black Canadians and marginalized Canadians, we heard from witnesses who suggested that we add an amendment for the other penalties for which minimum penalties would continue to apply. This means that there would be some built-in discretion given to the courts to hand down a penalty that could veer from the minimum penalty that would continue to apply in these cases. What do you think of this suggestion, minister?

Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. I said at the committee, and I will repeat now for the whole of the Senate, that I think this is what is possible now. There are a number of mandatory minimum penalties which I think the vast majority of the Canadian public would not agree to repeal — sexual assault offences and sexual offences against children, for example, are things that I think the Canadian public would not accept — or there are other questions that would need to be addressed first. For example, in the North, we need to address housing quite badly before we can think about certain mandatory minimum penalties because there aren’t options for places to go that are safe. We have invested in shelters and that sort of thing in the North, but more work needs to be done. I sincerely believe this is where we are now.

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Minister, your government is proposing to extend conditional sentence eligibility for serious offences including sexual assault through Bill C-5. Women’s groups and victims’ groups have expressed great concern about an abuser’s ability to serve his sentence from his home or in the victim’s community.

Jennifer Dunn of the London Abused Women’s Centre stated in the House Justice Committee on April 29, 2022:

. . . Women and girls are five times more likely than men to be victims of sexual assault, and sexual assault is a violent crime on the rise in Canada. With conditional sentencing, many women will be stuck in the community with the offender, which places them at even higher risk.

Minister, what message is your government sending to victims of sexual assault by extending leniency to sexual abusers?