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Member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians

Don Davies

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians
  • NDP
  • Vancouver Kingsway
  • British Columbia
  • Voting Attendance: 58%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $153,893.57

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 219 - Sep/18/23
Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP)
  • Sep/18/23 6:09:51 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-48 
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague's speech was pretty wide-ranging and touched on a number of things. It contributed to the debate, but in some cases it did not. We are talking about bail conditions and how we deal with people who commit crimes on bail. The member raised the tragedy outside the Starbucks in Vancouver, where Mr. Schmidt was knifed to death. However, that was by a person who was not out on bail, so I am not sure what that has to do with the legislation that is under consideration. The current bail law in this country is that bail can be denied when an accused's criminal record is taken into account, particularly if they have failed to comply with past bail conditions or court orders. It is the law now that bail can be denied by a judge if someone has failed to comply with bail conditions in the past or if they have a repeat criminal record. Could the member explain to us why she thinks the current law is not sufficient to keep those people in jail pending their trial, when that is the law right now?
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Context: House Hansard - 85 - Jun/9/22
Mr. Don Davies
  • Jun/9/22 5:00:14 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-5 
Madam Speaker, absolutely, we need to start addressing in a more meaningful way the social determinants of crime. That is part of it. Also, I think the bottom line is that we need to give our courts and judges the tools they need to make proper individualized assessments to find out what the root causes of the person and the circumstances are before them. Punishment is an aspect of our penal system, so that is part of it, but it has to have its proper perspective. We have to understand what the real cause of the crime before them is, and we have to address that. That is the only way we can keep Canadians safe.
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Context: House Hansard - 85 - Jun/9/22
Mr. Don Davies
  • Jun/9/22 4:56:21 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-5 
Madam Speaker, of course, I guess this is a matter of perspective. If one believes that punishing people more harshly and putting addicts and people with mental illness in jail cells for longer will keep communities safe, then I suppose one will critique this bill, as the official opposition is doing. However, we actually believe it is important to make an individualized assessment of what has happened, get to the root cause of the crime and address that as a better approach for that person, who has transgressed our laws. I do not want in any way to be taken to say that I am countenancing the violation of our laws. That is wrong, and we as parliamentarians need to do everything we can to stop that. The question is whether we adopt effective measures to do so. Between spreading misinformation or using crime as a political wedge issue and adopting evidence-based policy that works, I certainly prefer the latter approach, and I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.
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