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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 168

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 10, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Mr. Frank Caputo (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, CPC)
  • Mar/10/23 12:26:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people from Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I want to thank my colleague on the justice committee and in the House from Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke. This is an area that is close to my heart, and I anticipate speaking to this issue in a few minutes. It is certainly something that causes great concern. I am curious what my colleague thinks about the penalties we should be ascribing to this behaviour. It should obviously be looked at as criminal behaviour, based on the report. That is fairly clear. Would he see this as being something where we should be looking at having a deterrent effect in sentencing? I am curious to have his thoughts on that.
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Mr. Frank Caputo (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, CPC)
  • Mar/10/23 12:42:13 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-5 
Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo. I am going to follow up on the last point my friend and colleague just made, which was in regard to sentencing. I know he mentioned Bill C-5, and we may have some disagreement on minimum penalties. For instance, if memory serves, the maximum penalty for assault is five years when proceeded by an indictment and two years less a day when proceeded summarily. Does my colleague believe or agree that perhaps we need to elevate the maximum sentences when it comes to intimate partner violence? I would point out a couple of things. One is the fact that the Criminal Code talks about people who are vulnerable, and when we talk about the cycle of violence, we are in fact talking about people who are vulnerable. The second is that the Criminal Code mentions that it is an aggravating feature to abuse one's intimate partner. Given those factors, would he propose raising the maximum sentences for people who abuse their intimate partners?
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Context: House Hansard - 168 - Mar/10/23
Mr. Frank Caputo
  • Mar/10/23 1:13:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I obviously have not referred to the report, but my colleague is often an expert on this. At the end of the day, we have to recognize that this type of offence is not going away. During the pandemic, it escalated. Any sort of mentality that we are instantly going to bring down the occurrence of offences, in my view, is not backed by anything I have seen at this point. I know that people often bring up sentencing and there are divergent viewpoints about that. I can say this much. It really is disheartening for an outsider to see somebody who has been victimized as an intimate partner and see an unjust sentence levied when that intimate partner has so clearly been victimized.
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