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Minister of Justice Attorney General of Canada

Hon. Arif Virani

  • Member of Parliament
  • Minister of Justice Attorney General of Canada
  • Liberal
  • Parkdale—High Park
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 64%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $120,537.19

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:44:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the principle of restraint from the Antic decision does not dictate the outcome of a specific bail hearing. That is fundamental to understand. It does not require the release of a person. It does not change the basis upon which someone can be detained. With respect to auto theft, for the member's edification, when something or someone is subject to a period of imprisonment of longer than two years, they are automatically immunized from the potential availability of a conditional sentence order. There is also a mandatory minimum penalty that applies for repeat auto theft offenders, and that also immunizes them from the potential conditional sentence order.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:31:34 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-21 
Mr. Speaker, I just want to underscore that Bill C-21, which the member voted against, actually proposed to increase maximum penalties from 10 year of imprisonments to 14 years for firearms-related offences, including firearms smuggling and trafficking, which is a pressing issue not just in his riding but everywhere around the country.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 10:19:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I absolutely understand that to be the case. It really undercuts this narrative that bail is somehow too facile to obtain in this country when 70% of the population of prisons around the country are actually on remand. That is exactly commensurate with other peer countries. I think that underscores the point that the issues that need to be addressed are widespread and include how we track bail and the decisions that are being made by justices of the peace.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)
  • May/23/24 8:44:26 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-63 
Madam Chair, by way of addressing a couple of points on extortion, what I would indicate for the benefit of the House is that we have announced an RCMP national coordination and support team to help coordinate investigations of extortion, and that extortion remains subject to a maximum life imprisonment penalty, which the Supreme Court has indicated demonstrates the seriousness of the offence. With respect to the question about Bill C-63, I welcome this question. Keeping kids safe is everyone's responsibility in this chamber. This legislation, Bill C-63, would require a takedown within 24 hours of any material that constitutes child sex exploitative material. It would require a risk analysis and a risk reduction of material that induces a child to self-harm or bullies or intimidates a child. That is about doing right by people like Amanda Todd's mother and Rehtaeh Parsons' mother and so many kids who are being sextorted and exploited online.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:23:54 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I believe that with tougher prison sentences and changes to the bail system, we are going to eliminate or limit the—
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:22:35 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to clarify something to the member across the way. When we amend the Criminal Code to increase a maximum prison sentence we are sending a message to judges and the justice system that we very strongly condemn auto theft.
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Context: House Hansard - 316 - May/23/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • May/23/24 8:02:22 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-70 
Madam Chair, extortion is a Criminal Code violation currently and there is already a mandatory minimum penalty that applies to repeat extortion with a firearm. The mandatory minimum is seven years. The maximum penalty for extortion is life imprisonment. With respect to not tolerating extortion, what we are doing is looking closely and trying to work with law enforcement officials to understand the nature of the problem, particularly in the South Asian community in B.C. and in Ontario, to target this in a more robust manner. I would also encourage the member to look at what we are doing with Bill C-70, the foreign interference legislation that we recently tabled in this House, which looks at organized criminality that is being orchestrated by criminal elements that are operating abroad but manifesting here.
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Context: House Hansard - 285 - Feb/26/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)
  • Feb/26/24 3:13:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, violent and sexual crimes have been a top priority for our government since we came to power. We have addressed intimate partner violence a number of times in our own bills in terms of bail and other sentences. When it comes to mandatory minimum sentences, however, we are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the Conservative Party. To deal with indigenous and Black overrepresentation in our prisons, in our justice systems, we have to focus on the actual sentences.
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Context: House Hansard - 285 - Feb/26/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)
  • Feb/26/24 3:11:50 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-48 
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague across the way. I want all Canadians watching us right now to know that crime in our communities is a priority for every parliamentarian in the House. That being said, with Bill C‑48, which was just enacted two months ago and deals with bail, we focused specifically on the most violent offenders who used a firearm in the commission of their crime. We are aiming for a situation where these individuals will stay in prison.
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