44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 4, 2023 02:00PM
- Oct/4/23 4:02:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if you will indulge me, there is one more quick petition, and it is in regard to the protection of charities.
The Liberal Party of Canada was elected on a promise to revoke charitable status for pro-life organizations, such as Crisis Pregnancy Centre, which counsels young women and saves countless lives every year. Revoking the charitable status of pro-life organizations is a first step toward even more tyrannical measures to eradicate the values and principles of Canadians and includes churches, which may be next.
Revoking the charitable status of pro-life organizations will result in an explosion in the number of abortions committed in Canada each year. Therefore, the undersigned hereby call upon members of Parliament to do everything in their power to prevent, block, organize against and vote against any effort by the government to revoke the charitable status of pro-life organizations in Canada.
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- Oct/4/23 4:03:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am here to present a petition on behalf of the Iranian community, which is still grieving from the hurt and pain caused by the brutal attack on flight PS752.
The victims of flight 752, their families and thousands of brave protesters in Iran, who continue to fight for freedom from the oppressive grip of the Iranian regime, deserve answers. It has been over three years now, and it is the responsibility of the current Canadian government to uphold justice, do its job and immediately undertake an independent criminal investigation into this attack.
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- Oct/4/23 4:04:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate you on your appointment.
I rise for the 13th time on behalf of the people of Swan River, Manitoba, to present a petition on the rising rate of crime. Swan River and its people have been let down by the Liberal government, which has allowed crime to spiral out of control. Residents no longer feel comfortable walking outside at night, and for businesses, theft has become all too common. Members of this community told me how unsafe they feel, since crime has taken its toll on what was once a safe and welcoming community.
The people of Swan River demand that the Liberal government repeal its soft-on-crime policies, which directly threaten their livelihoods and their community. I support the good people of Swan River.
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- Oct/4/23 4:05:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a number of petitions to present today.
The first petition I am presenting is on behalf of Canadian pilots, folks who are in training for their pilot licence. They are concerned about the fact they are having difficulty getting their licence as Transport Canada and Nav Canada have been less than helpful in scheduling these tests. They have been prevented from taking their examinations and receiving their certification. They note that schools across Canada are open and operating safely, but Transport Canada and Nav Canada are not putting forward solutions that allow them to take their exams in a timely fashion.
The petitioners are asking the government to open these offices and create other facilities or mechanisms so students can write their exams and be able to receive their commercial pilot licence in a timely manner.
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- Oct/4/23 4:06:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition is from Canadians from across the country who are concerned about the health and safety of Canadian firearms owners. They recognize the importance to our Canadian society of owning firearms, but are concerned about the impacts of hearing loss caused from the damaging noise levels from the use of these firearms.
These petitioners acknowledge sound moderators are a universally accepted health and safety device, but they note that the device is criminally prohibited here in Canada. They also note we are the only G7 country that has not recognized the health and safety benefits of these devices. Allowing them for hunting, sport shooting and reducing noise pollution is something all our peer countries do but is illegal in Canada.
Therefore, the petitioners call on the Canadian government to legalize the option to purchase and use sound moderators for all legal hunting and sport shooting activities.
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- Oct/4/23 4:07:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the next petition comes from Canadians from across the country who are concerned about how Turkish, Pakistani and Bahraini officials have committed human rights abuses against thousands of Turks and Turkish Canadians, particularly eight current Turkish Canadians.
They are responsible for causing wrongful detentions of over 300,000 people around the world. Petitioners are calling on the Canadian government to closely monitor the human rights situation in Turkey and place sanctions on 12 Turkish officials who are responsible for these human rights violations against these current Canadians and the death of their friend Gokhan Acikkollu. They also call on the Turkish, Pakistani and Bahraini governments to end these violations in their countries.
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- Oct/4/23 4:08:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues, I would like to congratulate you on your historic election as Speaker.
I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
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- Oct/4/23 4:08:29 p.m.
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Is that agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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- Oct/4/23 4:08:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand.
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- Oct/4/23 4:08:56 p.m.
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Is it agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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- Oct/4/23 4:09:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in September, the Prime Minister held a photo op, a stunt with grocery CEOs of all of the major chains. He said to Canadians, and this was a promise, that they wanted something that would be felt by Canadians by Thanksgiving. He was talking about lowering the price of Thanksgiving dinner.
We have not heard anything from the Prime Minister on that commitment to Canadians. The Prime Minister has broken his promise.
Thanksgiving is Monday, which is less than five days away, and we want answers. Therefore, we are requesting an emergency debate.
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- Oct/4/23 4:09:16 p.m.
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The Chair has notice of a request for an emergency debate from the hon. member for Thornhill.
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- Oct/4/23 4:10:00 p.m.
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I sincerely thank the hon. member for Thornhill for her remarks, but I do not find that the request meets the exigencies of the Standing Orders at this time.
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Mr. Speaker, I will take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as Speaker. I would also like to say that I will be splitting my time with the member for Langley—Aldergrove.
The last eight years have not been kind to Canadians, since the Liberal government took power, when it comes to safe streets, safe communities and crime. One only needs to look at the recent StatsCan release to see the drastic increase in crime in this country since 2015. The numbers are absolutely staggering. Total violent crimes are up 39%; homicides are up 43%, up for the fourth year in a row; gang-related homicides are up 108%; violent gun crimes are up 101%, up for the eighth year in a row; aggravated assaults are up 24%; assaults with a weapon are up 61%; sexual assaults are up 71%; and sex crimes against children are up 126%.
That is the context when we look at Bill S-12, an act to amend the Criminal Code, the Sex Offender Information Registration Act and the International Transfer of Offenders Act. That is the context by which we, as parliamentarians, addressing the fear in our communities around crime, around keeping Canadians safe, around protecting victims, look at Bill S-12.
Bill S-12 is due to be passed at all stages by October 28. This is a deadline that was put in place by the Supreme Court, when it gave the government 365 days to get this done, in response to a Supreme Court decision. Yet, here we are, with just 24 days left, to make sure that the national sex offender registry continues to be a critical resource for police to investigate and to prevent crime.
The last time the Liberal government had a court-imposed deadline to respond to decisions, around medical assistance in dying, we ended up, tragically, with a bill that would expand medical assistance in dying to Canadians living with mental illness. The government waited too long and rushed through legislation. That is, again, what is happening here.
I am going to focus my speech on amendments to the Sex Offender Information Registration Act as opposed to changes in the publication bans that were brought forward by our Conservative-led justice committee study on the federal government's obligation to victims of crime.
What is the sex offender registry? Conservatives will always stand up for victims and victims' rights. That leads me to these amendments to the Sex Offender Information Registration Act. The act was established in 2004 to help Canadian police authorities investigate crimes of a sexual nature by requiring the registration of certain information on sex offenders. To help police services investigate crimes of a sexual nature, the sex offender registry contains information such as the address and telephone numbers of offenders, a description of their physical appearance, the nature of the offence committed, and the age and gender of victims, and their relationship to the offender.
At the time, enrolment on the registry was up to the discretion of a judge. That discretion led to significant problems. The public safety committee review of the implementation of the sex offender registry in 2009 found glaring issues. The committee found that only 50% of sex offenders were required to register their information. This was happening for a number of reasons. An official from the Department of Public Safety told the committee at the time that with the pressure of time or workload, Crown attorneys would forget to ask for the order. The committee was also told that the order application rate varies widely by province and by territory. One witness stated that the absence of an automatic inclusion on the registry for all offenders convicted of sexual crimes has led to the inconsistent application of the law across the country.
The committee recommended to the government that the automatic registration of sex offenders would fix these holes in the legislation. In order to be effective, the national registry must be enforced consistently across the country.
I was proud to be part of the Conservative government that passed the Protecting Victims From Sex Offenders Act, introduced in 2010. That legislation passed with the support of all parties. The bill broadened the purpose of the sex offender registry by adding the purpose of helping police prevent crimes of a sexual nature in addition to enabling them to investigate those crimes.
We made sensible changes to strengthen the sex offender registry. For instance, we made registration automatic for convicted sex offenders. Our legislation also added the obligation to report any person ordered to serve an intermittent or conditional sentence. This is even more important today than it was then, because Liberal Bill C-5 now allows conditional sentences for crimes like sexual assault and Liberal Bill C-75 now allows bail to become more easily obtained by individuals charged with serious offences.
Conservatives also brought in the requirement of registered sex offenders to report the name of their employer or the person who engages them on a volunteer basis or retains them, and the type of work they do. Police should be aware if a sex offender is spending any amount of time with or in proximity to potential victims. We made these sensible amendments to the Sex Offender Information Registration Act to protect victims and to prevent crime.
On October 28, 2022, a split decision, five to four, of the Supreme Court found that the mandatory and lifetime registration on the sex offender registry was unconstitutional. The Liberals have simply accepted this decision. We have urged them to respond as forcefully as possible, and Bill S-12 does fall short of that.
I want to read from the dissenting judgment. It was a very strong dissent, in which it says:
...the exercise of discretion was the very problem that prompted Parliament to amend the Criminal Code to provide for automatic registration of sex offenders under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act... The evidence is clear that even low risk sex offenders, relative to the general criminal population, pose a heightened risk to commit another sexual offence.
That heightened risk is, by some counts, eight times the likelihood of someone with a prior conviction to reoffend. That is why incorporating and improving as many offenders as possible in the sex offender registry is so very important. We have seen how this has played out before. When it was left simply to the judges to decide who needs to register with the registry, nearly 50% of offenders were never required to register. This is before we brought in mandatory registration.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We can expect that individuals who certainly should be listed in the registry, even after the passage of Bill S-12, would be left out. We have to take every step to protect Canadians, to protect victims and to ensure that sex offenders are not given the opportunity to revictimize our communities.
After eight years of the Liberal government, the rate of violent crime is up 39%, police-reported sexual assaults are up 71% and sex crimes against children are up 126%. Canadians deserve so much better than this. I can think of no greater obligation for us as members of Parliament to enact laws that protect our communities and protect the safety of the most vulnerable. With legislation like Bill C-75 that has made bail so easy to get, legislation like Bill C-5 that has allowed for house arrest for sex offenders, Conservatives do not trust the government to take the necessary steps to protect Canadians. It has proven an inability to do that.
It is important that we pass Bill S-12, it is important that we respond to the Supreme Court decision and it is important that we go as far as possible to protect the most vulnerable. We look forward to the quick passage of this legislation. It is unfortunate that the government took so long to bring us to this point, but it is also important that we act expeditiously to protect Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP did a lot of work with groups like My Voice, My Choice, which talked about the rights of victims and having a process that allowed them to retain their power while going through very difficult times.
I wonder if the member could talk a bit more about the study that was done at committee. It had a unanimous report that was supportive of recommendation 11 to amend section 486.4 of the Criminal Code to allow victims of sexual assault to opt out of the publication ban and take back their agency. This has been long advocated for by victims' rights advocates. I wonder if the member could talk about why this is important and if he will support this bill, because it does exactly that.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the work of My Voice, My Choice and its appearance at our justice committee.
As Conservatives, we initiated a study on the federal government's obligation to victims of crime. One of the many issues we heard around publication bans was about victims having the right to have their voice heard and taking back their agency, especially in the context of publication bans.
It was a unanimous finding of the committee that the government had been falling short on its obligation to victims of crime. We support measures that give a voice back to victims of crime. It is important that their voices be heard, and we support that every step of the way.
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Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is very pleased with Bill S‑12. We are pleased with it because it puts the victims front and centre.
Does my Conservative colleague think that the government can and must interfere in parole decisions to move an inmate from a maximum security institution to a medium security institution? I am referring to the Paul Bernardo case, among others.
Is my colleague in favour of the government interfering in parole decisions?
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Mr. Speaker, this legislation was a needed response to a Supreme Court decision, but I feel it could have gone further. It could have been tighter. There are a number of offences now that will not meet the threshold for inclusion in the registry, and there will be people who should have been included who will not be with the passage of this legislation.
Absolutely what happened with the issue around Bernardo's transfer is a travesty. It should have never happened. A witness came to us in our study on the government's obligation to victims of crime, and she said that in Canada we no longer have a justice system. We have a legal system, but not a justice system. I remember her words because I think of what happened with Bill C-75 to change our bail laws to create a revolving door that puts criminals back out on the streets. I think of the fact that Bill C-5 removed mandatory penalties for serious crimes against individuals. I also think of instances like the transfer that was put in place for Paul Bernardo. The government, by changing legislation, made that transfer inevitable. That is laid completely at the feet of the government. When it changed the law to put in a requirement that minimal holdings be implemented for each prisoner, it made that inevitable.
Absolutely we have a lot of work that needs to be done to protect our communities and to protect victims.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his contributions on justice issues.
I think we all share the perspective that we want to make Canada safer and make sure that the rights of victims are protected, and I think the legislation goes a long way toward doing that. I wonder whether my hon. friend would be willing to share his reflections on the amendments that were made by the Senate and whether he generally agrees with them or has some concerns, as I do, with some of them.
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Mr. Speaker, I welcome the hon. member to the justice committee. When we are seized with Bill C-21, we will look at those amendments, as I do share a concern around some of them.
It is one thing to say that we want Canadians to be safe. It is another thing to put in place the legislative measures to make sure that happens. I am committed to working with all parliamentarians, including the hon. member, to pass legislation that allows us to protect our streets, protect our communities and protect victims.
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