Senator Boisvenu: In that case, Your Honour, I would ask for five more minutes.

Senator Boisvenu: Thank you, colleagues. I’ll try to read fast.

Take the recent case of a sex offender sentenced to three years and nine months in prison on April 11, 2023. Between January 7 and June 5, 2022, this man assaulted six women between the ages of 30 and 65. Those crimes were committed in the Quebec City region.

Imagine: three years and nine months for assaulting and traumatizing six women! Pardon me if I criticize our justice system for being so permissive, so soft on these criminals. No wonder the stats for sex crimes are so high. No wonder women choose not to report their attackers. According to 2015 data, 50% of women who have been sexually assaulted drop their case during legal proceedings. Add to that the number of women who do not report these crimes, which is also high; only one in ten women report. A mere one in thirty attackers will ever be sentenced to jail.

Honourable senators, the court gave the federal government until October 28, 2023, to respond. We were pressed for time when we studied this bill because the federal government waited six months to introduce it. That delay had a significant impact on our ability to study changes to the National Sex Offender Registry.

It is essential to take into account victims’ voices and to think about the lasting harm they have suffered. Laws and court decisions like this one can dissuade women from reporting assault, which is counterproductive in our fight to end violence against women.

The statistics clearly show that violence against women, particularly Indigenous women, is a major problem in Canada. It is imperative that our justice system reflect the urgent need to treat these crimes with the seriousness they deserve. Given the alarming statistics on violence against women, it is imperative that we strengthen our legislation. By requiring that only child sex offenders and repeat sex offenders be automatically included in the National Sex Offender Registry, Bill S-12 fails to properly address this urgent situation. Most victims of sex crimes are women, and it is fundamental that any man who is sentenced to more than two years for such crimes against a woman be automatically included in the registry.

I proposed an amendment to correct that and to call for the automatic registration of offenders sentenced to more than two years for sex crimes against women. Unfortunately, that amendment was rejected. I still do not understand why my colleagues on the Constitutional Affairs Committee made that decision on something that is so important for victims.

Some have suggested this might conflict with the Supreme Court’s decision, but let’s remember that it is not up to the Supreme Court to tell us how to do our legislative work. We must act courageously to keep women in our society safe. When we stand up for victims’ interests, we must be guided not by fear, but by courage, the same courage the victims show when they report their attackers.

We are about to pass Bill S‑12, but I’m deeply concerned that it will not be good enough to go up against crime in Canada, especially not crimes of violence against women. This bill doesn’t include necessary improvements to the National Sex Offender Registry, so it could end up making it possible for many attackers to victimize even more people.

I know what I’m talking about, because my own daughter, Julie, was the tragic victim of a sex offender. Our justice system was soft on him, and that is one of the factors that led to him committing that crime. In 2002, there was no registry, and, as a result, a predator who had just been released from jail was able to take my daughter’s life. I won’t even mention the sentence he got before that fatal attack, a sentence that essentially served as his licence to reoffend.

The safety of Canadian women should always take priority over an offender’s right to privacy. We must never underestimate the disastrous consequences of a sexual assault, which can sometimes escalate to femicide. I fear that one day, with this bill, we will regret our actions.

It is essential to recognize that the victims, often forgotten or ignored in the judicial process, deserve much more attention and support than just words of comfort. These women, scarred by events that are often traumatizing, need us to take well-reasoned action that reflects a true understanding of their suffering and their specific needs.

As committed and responsible members of our society, it is our duty to guarantee that each and every victim is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. Thank you.

[English]

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Honourable senators, on Tuesday morning in the other place, my colleague, MP Blaine Calkins, tabled a petition signed by more than 22,000 people, who are calling on the government to quickly pass Bill C-336, which was introduced by MP Gerald Soroka, and Bill S-266, which I introduced in this chamber on June 6.

I would like to remind you that, on September 16, 2021, Robert Keith Major, a known repeat sexual offender, murdered 24-year-old Mchale Busch and her 16-month old baby, Noah, in their home in Hinton, Alberta.

This dangerous criminal had very strict parole conditions, but despite the fact that he was prohibited from approaching areas where children could be found, he lived near an elementary school, near a park and in an apartment building where many families lived, including that of Cody McConnell.

I am asking you to put yourselves in this father’s shoes, even if it is just while I’m speaking. A father comes home from work to find his apartment building surrounded by police. They forbid him from returning to his apartment. He then learns, several hours later, that his baby was just found dead in a dumpster. Then, within the next few minutes, the police find his wife’s body near the baby’s.

Imagine learning that the murderer, a dangerous repeat sex offender unlawfully at large, lives right next door. How would you react? Probably in the same way that the family and friends of these innocent victims reacted when I met with them in Alberta last spring. The justice system failed in its duty to protect this mother and her child by quietly setting this dangerous and ruthless criminal free.

Colleagues, I want to ask you the following questions today: What use is a system that releases dangerous repeat sex offenders with very strict conditions if nobody bothers to check on them? Why does breaching those conditions carry absolutely no consequence for these repeat offenders? Why does the justice system keep secret the presence of repeat offenders in the apartment next door?

This is the textbook definition of a failure: the failure to protect the public, especially women and children, from these repeat offenders despite the fact that Canada has a charter that recognizes the right to protection.

The 22,000 petitioners call on the federal government to make it mandatory for convicted sex offenders to report to the nearest police station upon any change of residence, to immediately arrest any repeat offender who fails to do so and to create a special designation for dangerous sex offenders who prey on children and women.

Protecting the lives of Canadian women and children is not the responsibility of any one political party. That responsibility belongs to the legislators in Canada’s Parliament, who have the privilege and duty to pass laws to that effect.

Honourable senators, someone must be held responsible for monitoring and supervising these dangerous offenders on release who all too often, in Canada, go on to reoffend. The petitioners are asking you to assume that responsibility and urging you to pass Bill S-266 quickly.

Noah and Mchale paid with their lives for this failure. Today, the family has this question for you: How many more will have to pay that price? Thank you.

[English]

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Senator Boisvenu, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I must remind you that, as critic of the bill, when replying to a message, you have 15 minutes to speak. You may conclude your speech in debate.

I’ll read the relevant rule.

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu moved second reading of Bill S-266, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Sex Offender Information Registration Act.

He said: Honourable senators, I move the adjournment of the debate for the balance of my time.