Parliamentary Work - House of Commons

Speech: The Hon. Stéphane Dion - Protecting Our Homes and Our Rights

The Hon. Stéphane Dion delivered this speech on March 14, 2007 at Streetsville Kinsmen Hall in Mississauga.
 

In French, Canada’s national anthem ends with the words "protegera nos foyers et nos droits; protegera nos foyers et nos droits" – Canada will protect our homes, and our rights. These six words are more than just a phrase; they constitute the fundamental promise of safety and freedom we demand from our government. 
 
As Prime Minister I’m committed to doing just that – protecting our homes and our rights. Canadians have a right to be safe.  And they have a right to expect that their government will ensure that safety, while protecting their civil liberties. I will pursue the right policies to fight crime – for every person, for every family, for every community of our great country.
 
Safety is the foundation that supports my three-pillar approach: economic prosperity, social justice and a sustainable environment. For a richer Canada, a fairer Canada, a greener Canada, we need a safer Canada. A Liberal government led by me will meet these ambitious goals, ensuring the safety of Canadians through an effective program to fight crime.
 
We need to base our policy on facts, not fear-mongering. That means we need to start with the facts.
 
Canada has witnessed over a decade of falling crime rates. After increasing in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the national crime rate peaked in 1991.  Between 1992 and 2004, the crime rate fell by twenty-two percent, and the violent crime rate fell by 13 percent, according to Statistics Canada. 
 
Crime also fell in the U.S., but the difference between Canada and the U.S. remains huge.  The murder rate in the US is nearly three times higher than Canada’s.  The aggravated assault rate is 85 percent higher. 
 
But if you’ve been touched by crime, statistics don’t matter. Behind every statistic is an individual who’s been hurt. Behind every individual is a family under stress. Behind every family is a community that won’t be comforted by statistics alone.
 
There are too many Canadian communities where violent crime remains a serious threat. That’s why the Liberal team and I will never stop fighting to make Canadians safe.
 
Once we have the facts, we need to adopt an approach that deals with every aspect of fighting crime: prevention, arrest, conviction, punishment, deterrence, and rehabilitation.
 
Providing our youth with opportunities must be part of our strategy to fight crime. Money spent today on education and skills-training is money we don’t have to spend later on prisons. The Mississauga Crime Prevention Association understands this. A Liberal government led by me will introduce a robust crime prevention strategy with funding for innovative local solutions for at-risk youth. 
 
But prevention won’t deal with the criminals that already exist. So today, I want to focus on two crucial steps in the process of fighting crime: catching criminals, and convicting them.
 
 
1.  Catching Criminals
 
The most effective way to protect our homes and our rights is to catch and convict more criminals. When a potential criminal believes he won’t be caught – or, if he is caught, he won’t be convicted – he’s more likely to commit the crime. It is the government’s duty to ensure that the potential criminal knows he will be caught and convicted.
 
Too often, Canadian politicians ignore this duty, suggesting that the only solution to crime is longer sentences.  There’s no question that sentences are an important part of the solution: serious crimes should carry serious penalties.  But fighting crime with longer sentences alone doesn’t work.
 
In the US, states that had longer jail terms saw crime fall by less than states that didn’t. And harsher penalties for drug crimes in the 1980s did nothing to reduce the use of drugs or drug-related crimes. 
 
Longer sentences alone aren’t enough. To deter criminals, a Liberal government led by me will focus on stronger measures to catch and convict criminals, through the following measures.
 
  • We will provide funds to provinces to hire more municipal police officers, starting immediately.  The Conservatives promised 2,500 more police in our cities – then didn’t do it.
 
  • We will give the RCMP an extra $200 million for an extra 400 officers as part of a new rapid enforcement team, that will be mandated to provide immediate help to local police departments to combat guns and gang activity, as well as organized crime and drug trafficking.
 
  • We will continue to support reverse-onus bail hearings for those arrested for a gun crime. Reverse-onus bail hearings keep criminals off the street while they await trial. 
 
  • We will establish a fund that would help at-risk communities cover the costs of security in their places of worship and gathering places.
 
Changing the Criminal Code
 
To better catch criminals, we also need new laws that protect the most vulnerable – children and seniors. To do that, a Liberal government led by me will make the following changes to the Criminal Code.
 
  • To protect Canadian children, we will strengthen laws that prevent Internet luring.  The previous Liberal government passed laws that help protect children from Internet-based predators, but more needs to be done. New laws are needed to address explicit online conversations initiated by adults with the intention of gaining the trust of a child, luring him or her into being abused.
 
  • To protect Canadian seniors, we will act on the recommendations of the Privacy Commissioner to address the problem of identity theft.  There were almost 8,000 reports of identity theft in the past year, resulting in more than $16 million being lost, much of it taken from vulnerable seniors. A lifetime of hard work and savings can vanish in an instant.  We need tougher laws to prevent this kind of crime. 
 
  • One of the main recommendations of the Privacy Commission is that we need to change private-sector privacy laws, so companies are forced to notify customers when their personal information gets leaked. If your social security number gets into the wrong hands, you deserve to find out about it, so you can avoid becoming a victim of identity theft. This kind of change would finally cause businesses to take the security of their customers more seriously. 
 
  • Another recommendation is that we need laws implementing the recommendations of the federal Task Force on Spam – recommendations that have so far been ignored by the Conservatives. Spam is the weapon of choice for identity thieves, who use phony e-mails to trick people into revealing personal information. Canada is the only G-8 country without anti-spam legislation, and a Liberal government led by me will change that. 
 
 
2. Convicting Criminals
 
Protecting our homes and our rights means more than just catching criminals. It also means doing a better job of convicting them. We need to tighten the administration of our justice system to give police and the courts the power to convict more criminals.
 
A Liberal government led by me will ensure that more money is made available to the provinces to hire more crown attorneys. More funding for more lawyers to prosecute cases will result in a quicker, more effective criminal justice system, able to move efficiently from apprehension to conviction. 
 
Beyond this pledge for more funding for crown attorneys, I’m going to focus on two additional aspects of the administration of our justice system: breaking down jurisdictional obstacles, and appointing more judges.
 
Organized justice for organized crime
 
Organized crime, whether biker gangs or inner-city gangs, is responsible for an increasing amount of criminal activity in Canada – from drugs to human trafficking, from protection rackets to security fraud. At the same time, jurisdictional divisions in Canada’s criminal justice system and law-enforcement agencies have made it more difficult for the police to deal with organized crime.
 
Organized criminal groups don’t get slowed down by bureaucratic turf wars, and neither should our police. We need to make it easier for the police to do their job. A crucial step is bringing down the bureaucratic roadblocks police face, by bridging the divides – between different provinces, between police and prosecutors, and between federal and provincial governments. 
 
The government of Ontario is leading the way. Under the leadership of Premier McGuinty and Attorney General Michael Bryant, Ontario has established an effective “Guns and Gangs Task Force” that brings crown prosecutors and police together. 
 
The federal government must do more than just follow their example. The federal government is uniquely placed to provide the leadership across the country to bring our justice efforts together.  A Liberal government led by me will set up and fund organized crime secretariats like the Guns and Gangs Task Force in every province, allowing federal crown attorneys and the RCMP to work closely with their provincial and municipal counterparts.
 
Even in opposition, we are acting.  Marlene Jennings, the Liberal justice critic, is re-introducing the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act.  This bill will allow the police and Canadian intelligence community to adapt to new communications technology.  Telephone and Internet service providers will be required, subject to vigorous privacy safeguards, to include an interception capability in new technology, and make subscriber contact information available on request to designated law enforcement officials.
 
This act strikes the right balance between the needs of police and industry, while respecting Canadians’ right to privacy.
 
Filling Judicial Vacancies
 
Police can’t fight crime on their own. Convicting criminals means we need enough judges to hear cases.
 
Between 1994 and 2004, the average length of a court case increased from less than five months to more than seven months, putting an increased burden on the administration of justice.  Yet under the Conservative government, our courts are staggered by dozens of judicial vacancies. 
 
In January, the respected political scientist Peter Russell said that leaving those judgeships vacant is, quote, “a grave dereliction of duty by the government of the day.”
 
The Conservatives inherited a list of highly qualified individuals for judicial appointment.  Those individuals pass the test of experience. The only test they don’t pass is the test of ideology imposed by this Conservative government.
 
The Conservatives have set out on a divisive, Republican-style campaign to stack the bench. The Law Society of Upper Canada is sounding the alarm, saying “Ideological or political considerations should play no part in the judicial appointment process.” Yet the Conservatives continue to insist on an ideological litmus test.
 
As a result, appointments are left unfilled; the backlog of cases continues to grow; and criminals are not being convicted fast enough.  Our Charter of Rights guarantees us a right to a fair trial in a reasonable period of time.  Not appointing judges undermines that right, and could lead to even fewer convictions. 
 
For the safety of our communities, this must stop. I call on the Conservative government to let the courts do their job, and start appointing highly-qualified judges, free from ideological interference.
Conclusion
 
The Liberal opposition is eager to move these items through Parliament. Today, I will go even further. 
 
Over the past year, the Liberal opposition has offered to pass six major pieces of criminal justice legislation.  We have offered to help the Conservatives pass legislation such as raising the age of consent, improving the DNA databank regime and modernizing criminal justice procedures.  The Conservatives have largely refused our offer. 
 
Today, the Liberal opposition is prepared to offer the Government our help to pass legislation that would make it more difficult for those arrested on gun charges to be released on bail.  So-called “reverse-onus bail hearings,” requiring the accused to justify their release, have been called for by police, crown attorneys and community groups across the country.  I strongly support that push.
 
This change will make it harder for gun-carrying criminals to intimidate witnesses and terrorize their community while they await trial.  Most of all, it means more convictions.
 
However, if the past year is any lesson, I doubt the Government will take us up on this offer.  The Conservatives’ crime policies are more about scoring political headlines than making our streets safer.  Victims of crime don't care about politics or headlines. They just want to know that criminals will be stopped, caught and punished.
 
We can only build a strong Canada if Canadians feel safe in their communities. The Liberal goals of prosperity, social justice and sustainability are meaningless if you can’t be confident that you and your children are protected. 
 
A Liberal government led by me would pursue a tough, effective strategy to fight crime and make our communities safer.  As Prime Minister, I will appoint more judges; put more police officers on the street and more prosecutors in the courts; and protect the most vulnerable, especially children and seniors.
 
My ambitious vision for Canada starts with ensuring that Canadians feel safe in their communities. A strong Canada starts with a safe Canada, and as Prime Minister, I will fulfill the promise contained in those few words – protegera nos foyers et nos droits; protecting our homes and our rights. For a richer Canada, a fairer Canada, and a greener Canada, we need a safer Canada.
 
Thank you.