Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, the directive issued by the minister yesterday to ensure that the Victims Bill of Rights is respected has existed since 2015. That means that Mr. Trudeau’s government must have issued a directive in 2015 to not abide by the bill of rights, rather than to abide by it.

Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, the directive issued by the minister yesterday to ensure that the Victims Bill of Rights is respected has existed since 2015. That means that Mr. Trudeau’s government must have issued a directive in 2015 to not abide by the bill of rights, rather than to abide by it.

Despite all his empathy for victims, the minister forgot that he was in Truro two months ago, where about 15 families were listening as the Mass Casualty Commission report was read out, but neither he nor Mr. Trudeau met with these families.

In light of the concerns raised and the minister’s failure to protect and prioritize victims’ rights, will the minister resign?

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: My question is for Senator Gold. I too want to talk about the Bernardo case, which has sparked a lot of outrage across the country and among victims’ groups.

Yesterday, Minister Mendicino used the word “victim” more times in one hour than his government ever did in eight years. The minister never talked about victims before the Bernardo case. Suddenly, victims of crime are his top priority. He even issued a directive to his department to ensure that victims’ rights are central to Correctional Service Canada’s decisions.

For the past eight years, I have been asking the Government Representative in the Senate why victims’ rights are not being respected. He mentioned a directive, but that directive existed in 2015. The act that created the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights is a federal act, which means that all federal institutions must abide by it.

Senator Gold, why is Minister Mendicino now using victims for his own ends? Why did he not respect families? Most importantly, why did he not tell the truth?