Good morning, everyone.
Deputy Commissioner, Sheldon, dear distinguished participants, thank you very much for accepting today's invitation to participate in this justice roundtable. I indeed see a lot of familiar faces around the table – your support is invaluable and much appreciated.
I'm pleased to provide you today with an update on the Harper Government's plan to ensure that Canadians across the country can live in safe streets and communities.
As you know, restoring Canadians' confidence in their justice system has been an important priority for the Prime Minister. As he said just last week, "Despite years of unceasing effort, there remain many areas requiring determined action in our criminal justice system....
When it comes to keeping our streets and communities safe, we will not rest, for there is much more to be done."
Today, I am pleased to outline the major themes of our Plan for Safe Streets and Communities, one of four priorities identified by the Prime Minister for our Government including, of course, our focus on jobs and the economy. Specific initiatives will be announced in the days and months ahead.
One reason Canadians granted our government a strong mandate is that they believed that the scales of justice had tipped away from the rights of law-abiding citizens and toward the rights of criminals, while the interests of victims were too often ignored.
The public loses faith in the justice system when they feel that the consequences of breaking the law are inadequate, that the punishment does not fit the crime.
They expect that if you break the law, you will be punished. Crime doesn't – and shouldn't – pay.
In an effort to restore confidence in the criminal justice system, our government put forward a strong tough-on-crime agenda.
- We established tougher penalties for a range of crimes related to everything from white-collar crime and identity theft to street racing, auto theft and elder abuse.
- We clarified the rules related to citizen's arrest and defence of property and persons.
- Moreover, we passed three laws that really started to shift the scales of justice back towards the rights of victims and law-abiding Canadians.
These three laws are:
- The Tackling Violent Crime Act, which toughened sentences for criminals who use guns, raised the age of protection, and made it much easier to keep dangerous, violent and repeat offenders behind bars.
- The Truth-in-Sentencing Act, which eliminated the practice of double-time reductions in the sentence of criminals for time served before their trial, except in exceptional circumstances.
- And, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which eliminated house arrest for serious and violent crimes, toughened sentences for drug dealers, and increased penalties for criminals who commit sexual offences against children.
These three laws demonstrated our commitment to put dangerous criminals behind bars and to keep our streets and communities safe.
And, they all ensure that the interests of victims and law-abiding citizens are the priority.
Our government's reforms have certainly helped victims to play a more significant role in our criminal justice system.
The Federal Victims Strategy, launched in 2007, established the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime.
The Ombudsman gives victims a greater voice in the correctional and justice systems.
The Victims Fund, another part of the Strategy, invests in projects that promote access to justice and participation in the criminal justice system.
The Harper Government has backed up these initiatives with stable, long-term funding – a cumulative total of more than $90 million since 2007.
And proposed reforms that are currently being studied by the Senate will double the victims surcharge imposed on fines for some criminal offences.
These fine surcharges help pay for victims' services, which are so important.
Perhaps no project better illustrates the value of the Victims Strategy than the Child Advocacy Centres.
So far, Child Advocacy Centre projects have been funded in 15 cities or municipalities across Canada, and another five projects are currently in various stages of development.
At each Centre, a team of professionals helps young victims and witnesses to cope with the trauma they've experienced and to navigate the criminal justice system.
This leads, in turn, to a greater sense of satisfaction among victims and witnesses – a sense that the system respects their experience and interests, a sense that their voice matters.
Ultimately, this serves to build the public's faith in the system.
So, we have made much progress in restoring Canadians' confidence in our justice system, but much work remains to be done.
Crime remains a serious issue that affects all Canadians.
While crime has been in decline, in 2011, there were still nearly two million Criminal Code violations.
More disturbingly, there were more than 1,000 violent offences committed each and every day in cities and communities across Canada - over 400,000 in total.
This means that there are still too many Canadians who are victims of attempted murder, major assaults, sexual assaults, robberies, break-ins and thefts.
Moreover, the rates of some crimes – such as child sexual offences, impaired driving, and drug crimes – are on the rise.
Then there's the matter of repeat offenders: 15 percent of offenders are responsible for nearly 60 percent of all reported crimes.
And 43 percent of offenders released from federal prison will be re-convicted within two years of their release.
Those are the facts. They cannot be ignored.
The costs of policing – which have been estimated at $8.6 billion a year – put a serious strain on the system, as do delays in our courts.
Crime costs each and every one of us.
And with estimates putting the total cost of crime at nearly $100 billion a year – that is more than the federal government spends on health care, Old Age Security and Defence combined1
-We cannot ignore its impact.
As we move forward to ensure that Canadians have safe streets and communities to live in, our Government will build on our successes of the last seven years. We will make additional progress in three key areas.
First, we will take further steps to tackle crime by holding violent criminals accountable. As I just mentioned, such heinous crimes as child sexual offences, including child pornography, are on the rise. In 2009, 58 percent of all victims of police-reported sexual offences in Canada were children and youths 17 years old or younger.
Police reported almost 4,000 sexual offences against children in 2011. Think about that. Each day in Canada innocent, defenceless children are the victims of sexual abuse. What makes this even more disturbing is that the sexual exploitation of children is apparently becoming more and more violent, while the children who are being violated are younger than ever.
This trend was reflected in a 2009 federal victims ombudsman's report, which indicated that 39 percent of child pornography images involved children aged between three and five years old, and 19 per cent involved images of infants under three years old.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was at the Centre d'expertise Marie-Vincent in Montreal, which offers – under one roof – services to child victims of sexual crimes.
They told me that 22 percent of the young victims who received services at their centre in 2011-2012 were less than five years old –
- the year before, it had been 10 percent.
This is wrong.
This is unacceptable.
This has to be stopped.
Children – the most vulnerable members of our society – must be better protected from these sexual predators that look for their next victims both near and far, including by engaging in child sex tourism.
Their punishment for these crimes must better reflect the devastation they cause in the lives of children and their families.
Our Government has worked to toughen the penalties against sexual predators that prey on children.
We've even added new offences to try to prevent these acts, including making it illegal for anyone to:
- provide sexually explicit material to a child for the purpose of facilitating the commission of a sexual offence against that child (a process that is often referred to as "grooming"); or
- use computers or other means of telecommunications to agree or make arrangements with another person to commit a sexual offence against a child.
Still, more work remains to be done to prevent such crimes.
Accordingly, we will be introducing comprehensive legislation later this year to crack down on criminals who commit sexual offences against children, especially those who continue to violate their conditions while at large.
We also know that sexual predators rarely hurt just one victim.
In fact, many go on for years victimizing one child after another without getting caught.
Our criminal justice system does not adequately reflect the reality of victimization when it comes to such sexual abuse.
Our Government intends to remedy that situation and to ensure that sentencing takes into account each young life that has been devastated by a sexual predator.
Our responsibility to protect the public goes well beyond child sexual offences.
For instance, as indicated last November, we will soon introduce legislation to protect the public from high-risk accused persons who have been found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder.
This legislation would ensure that public safety is the paramount consideration in these cases.
Second, we will further enhance the rights of victims of crimes.
Our Government has worked hard since coming into office to ensure that victims of crime have a greater voice in our justice system, but we believe that still more can be done to better recognize and protect their rights.
For too long, too many victims have asked why the tragic impacts of crime on their lives, families, and property are not given greater prominence in our justice system.
That is why our Government will bring forward legislation to implement a Victims Bill of Rights.
This will further enhance our commitment to victims of crime by entrenching their rights into a single law at the federal level.
Restitution also remains difficult to obtain for many victims and families who incur losses.
To that end, we will find ways to make it easier for victims' to obtain restitution in these cases.
We are committed to standing up for victims of crime and that is what we will continue to do.
Third, we will work to ensure the efficiency of our justice system.
Legislation is now in place to improve the fairness and efficiency of major trials, particularly those involving gangs and organized crime.
However, our Government will continue to look at related measures, including the use of new technologies in the justice system.
We will also look at measures to make the bail and extradition regimes more effective and efficient.
In Canada, it takes on average two and a half years to extradite a criminal to face justice; in exceptional circumstances, it has been known to take as long as 12 years.
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has noted that and I quote: "Not too many years ago, it was not uncommon for murder trials to be over in five to seven days. Now, they last five to seven months. Some go on for years."
The Chief Justice has even said that delays in our justice system cause personal and social costs that are incalculable.2
Needless to say, this creates an undue burden for our justice system.
Delays and inefficiencies have had a devastating impact in certain cases where charges are stayed for unreasonable delay; witnesses lose their ability to give accurate testimony, and victims question when - if ever - their alleged abusers will face justice.
More worrisome, police officers have to spend hours and hours of their day entangled in bureaucratic red-tape instead of being out on the street putting dangerous criminals behind bars.
Our Government has taken action to tackle crime and stand up for victims.
We will also do more to ensure our justice system is more efficient, in concert with provincial and territorial governments and other participants in the justice system.
Ladies and gentlemen, our Government's ultimate goal is to ensure that the streets and communities where Canadian live are safe.
To achieve this, our criminal justice system must hold violent offenders accountable, champion the rights of victims, and take an efficient, integrated and collaborative approach to preventing and fighting crime.
Crime has caused too much harm to too many people in this country.
We must continue to build on our many successful efforts to date to restore public faith in our criminal justice system for the benefit of all Canadians.
Thank you.
I will now invite the OPP Deputy Commissioner, Mr Vince Hawkes to say a few words.
