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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 324

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 4, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 324 - Jun/4/24
Hon. Dominic LeBlanc
  • Jun/4/24 7:02:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, our colleague from Winnipeg Centre raises a very troubling and important issue. We acknowledge the presence of systemic racism in many aspects of the criminal justice system. The overrepresentation of indigenous persons, Black people and racialized people is a source of concern for all of us. It should concern all Canadians. It certainly is a concern that I share. As expressed by our colleague from Winnipeg Centre, there is no doubt that having more reliable data, which is one of the important things this legislation would do, would help us come up with the policies appropriate to reduce this very concerning overrepresentation. I would obviously be happy to work with our colleague from Winnipeg Centre, who has been a very powerful voice on these issues, to ensure that we have the right series of measures in the criminal justice system at all times and that this important circumstance is addressed and addressed quickly. We have made some progress, but there is still a lot more work to do, and we think this legislation is one of many steps necessary to address the issues that she so correctly identified.
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Context: House Hansard - 324 - Jun/4/24
Mr. Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, NDP)
  • Jun/4/24 9:57:23 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there was a terribly erroneous link in my colleague's speech between the crime rates in Canada and what the bill is actually about. Let me be very clear that the legislation is here because of complaints of Black, racialized and indigenous people who had interactions with the police not because of what they did but because of who they are, what they look like and what their background is. I would like to give my hon. colleague a chance to speak about that, not about the crime rate in Canada but about people's interactions with both the RCMP and the CBSA because of their indigenous background, because they were Black and because they were racialized, not because they did anything wrong but because they were profiled. That is why we are here. That is what we need to hear from the Conservatives about.
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