Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Parliamentary Secretary Robert Goguen discuss Justice legislationmentary Secretary Robert Goguen discuss Justice legislation

The Honourable Vic Toews, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, and Joyce Bateman, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre, today announced the launch of the next phase of the Communities at Risk: Security Infrastructure Program in Toronto.

StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-Operator: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the media availability with minister Rob Nicholson conference call. Please note that parliamentary secretary Robert Goguen is also on the call to answer any questions in French. I would now like to turn the meeting over to minister Rob Nicholson. Please go ahead, minister Nicholson.

Hon. Rob Nicholson: Well, thank you very much and it’s good to be with my colleague, Bob Goguelin – Goguen. As the minister of Justice, I have the privilege as well as the mandate to meet with Canadians from all across this country. These are Canadians from all walks of life, mothers, fathers, grandparents, business owners, service providers, victims and many more. I’ve sat down with these Canadians, I’ve listened to their stories and I’ve heard their needs and that they’ve told me is that they want to see an efficient and balanced criminal justice system, a justice system that focuses on the rights of victims and so during the last federal election, we campaigned on a promise to continue our efforts to protect Canadians by cracking down on drug trafficking, getting tough with sexual predators and making the justice system more efficient.

On May 2^nd as you know, Canadians made a choice. By electing a strong, stable national Conservative majority government, Canadians gave us a clear mandate. I’m very pleased to say that we haven’t wasted any time in moving forward on our crime legislation agenda. This past summer -- this past September, I was very proud to introduce the Safe Streets and Communities Act. This comprises nine bills, all of which were introduced before the election, but never passed. The Safe Streets and Communities Act addresses a wide range of significant issues that affect our society. Among other things, the bill will help protect children from sexual predators by increasing penalties for sexual offences against children. The bill targets organized crime as well by creating tougher sentences for the production and trafficking of illegal drugs.

                                                Our message is clear, that if you get into the business of selling and producing drugs for the purposes of trafficking, you’re going to be paying with jail times. The bill includes measures that will respond to the problems posed by youth crime, to hold young people accountable when they break the law. This bill will also put an end to the use of conditional sentences or house arrests for serious and violent crimes.

                                                Furthermore, this bill will also amend the International Transfer of Offenders Act to keep the safety of Canadians citizens at the forefront of any decision to allow a Canadian offender convicted abroad to be transferred back to Canada and we will also enact the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act so that victims of terrorism can sue perpetrators and supporters of terrorists. We’re going to strengthen the laws around pardons which will be renamed record suspensions by extending the amount of time before a convicted criminal can apply. It will also make pardons unavailable for repeat offenders of serious crimes and those who commit sexual offences against children.

                                                The act fulfills our commitment to ensuring that criminals are held fully accountable for their actions and makes the safe and security of law abiding Canadians and victims of crime a priority. One thing is clear. Canadians want to see their communities as safe places to live, raise their families and do business, and our government will continue to listen to and implement policies that reflect what Canadians want. We are delivering on our promise to make our streets and communities safer. Thank you very much.

Operator:                            Thank you minister Nicholson, merci. We will now take questions from the telephone lines. Nous allons maintenant passer à la période de questions. If you have a question and you’re using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before making your selection. Si vous utilisez un téléphone mains libres, s’il vous plaît soulevez le combiné avant d’effectuer votre sélection. If you have a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Si vous désirez poser une question, veuillez s’il vous plaît appuyer sur les touches étoile un sur votre téléphone à clavier. If at any time, you wish to cancel your question, please press the pound sign. Vous pouvez à tout moment annuler votre question en appuyant sur le dièse. Please press star one at this time if you have a question. S’il vous plaît appuyez sur étoile un pour poser une question.  There will be a brief pause while the participants register for questions.  Il y aura un court délai vous permettant de vous enregistrer dans la file d’attente pour la période de questions. Thank you for your patience, merci de patienter. Our first question is from Wadimer Gardy (ph.) from Atlas Media. La parole est à vous, please go ahead.

Question:                            Bonjour monsieur, bonjour monsieur le ministre.

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Oui.

Question:                            Quelles sont les raisons qui ont poussé le gouvernement conservateur justement à faire ces changements pour – les changements actuels?  Quelles sont les raisons qui vous ont poussés à faire ces changements-là?

Robert Goguen:                Est-ce qu’on parle des changements, des amendements qui ont été déposés au Sénat, c’est ça?

Question:                            C’est ça, oui, pourquoi maintenant?

Robert Goguen:                Bien justement c’est qu’il y a eu des consultations avec des intervenants qui étaient beaucoup touchés par ce domaine puis on a – on a pensé que leurs amendements et leurs suggestions étaient très méritoires. Alors dans une dernière étape, on a fait des amendements. La procédure nous a forcés de faire ça par le Sénat, mais c’est jamais trop tard pour bien renforcer une loi.

Question:                            Croyez-vous que le fait de – une dernière question, monsieur le ministre, que faire des lois et émettre et énoncer des lois permet véritablement de réduire la criminalité dans notre pays?

Robert Goguen:                Absolument. C’est comme le ministre l’a dit tantôt, écoute, il a parlé, il a parlé avec tous les citoyens et puis il y avait une demande très très prononcée auprès des citoyens d’avoir une approche équilibrée qui vise non seulement la prévention, la mise en application de la loi et évidemment la réhabilitation des criminels dans la mesure du possible. 

Question:                            Avez-vous – est-ce que vous – croyez-vous que le citoyen canadien est au courant des lois? Est-ce que ces lois qui vont être émises seront mises à la disposition de chaque citoyen pour qu’ils connaissent justement la loi?

Robert Goguen:                Absolument, mais il y a beaucoup de citoyens qui sont – qui suivent la loi, qui ne sont pas dans le domaine criminel et puis évidemment, c’est pas tout le monde qui lit le code criminel mais les intervenants dans le système de justice comprennent très bien que la criminalité sérieuse et dangereuse va attirer des peines assez sévères et puis je pense que les juges ont une plus grande discrétion d’appliquer des mesures qui protègent la société contre les contrevenants dangereux.

Question:                            Merci beaucoup.

Robert Goguen:                Merci beaucoup.

Operator:                            Thank you, merci. De nouveau, n’hésitez pas à appuyer sur étoile un pour toute question ou commentaire. Please press star one at this time if you have any questions or comments. Notre prochaine question est d’un participant. Please state your name and proceed with your question. Please go ahead, la parole est à vous. We’re unable to hear anyone. If you’re on a speakerphone, please lift your handset or I’ll mute your line.  Please go ahead, la parole est à vous. Having no response, we have no further questions registered at this time. I do apologize, we have a follow-up question from a participant. Please state your name and then proceed with your question. La parole est à vous, please go ahead.  If you’re on a speakerphone phone,  please lift your handset or I’ll mute your line.Si vous êtes sur un téléphone mains libres, veuillez prendre le combiné.

Question:                            Hello minister.

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Hello.

Operator:                            Please go ahead.

Question:                            Thank you very much for receiving us today. I want to ask you a question and this is (inaudible). I was given some news in regards to an ex-player of hockey, a Canadian from Manitoba, Sheldon Kennedy...

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Yes.

Question:                            ...who mentioned in front of – who went to Washington and presented in a committee of the Senate about the sexual abuse in infants or in youth. He was presented in the United States with certain tools to respond to the abuse. Is there anything that you can tell us about that?

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Yes, he’s been very supportive of what we’re doing and I’ve been with him at a number of press conferences because he has a particular interest with respect to the sections of this bill that deal with sexual predators. We have done -- among other things, we have created two new offences in Canada. For the adult who gives explicitly sexual material to a child for the purpose of grooming that child for a sexual offence, that will now be a crime in Canada and we will cover another gap in the criminal code where two adults are talking with each other or exchanging information , how to set up a child to be sexually exploited. We’ve increased the mandatory penalties right across the board for all sexual offences against children and so this is one of the main focuses of the bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act and I’ve been very appreciative of the work that Mr. Kennedy has done and bringing attention to this terrible problem.

Question:                            Minister, and in regards to priests, the priest offenders in the Catholic Church, is there anything that will be proceeding? Does it have to go to the Vatican? How would that...

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Again, anyone charged with an offence in Canada is subject to the laws of Canada and the sections of this bill are very wide-ranging, so it captures all sexual abuse of children and it increases the penalties and again, it creates the two new offences.

Question:                            Thank you very much.

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        My pleasure.

Operator:                            Thank you, merci.  We have a question from Monica Spolia from Park Times (ph.). Please go ahead, la parole est à vous.

Question:                            Thank you. Hello, minister Nicholson. I was just wondering that there are laws which clearly state that penalties for criminal acts and this is a little bit on the side. I’m just wondering if there was anything done about it, let’s say for example if somebody is – feels threatened by someone and I have – you know, I have -- from experience, like being with friends and stuff like that, this is – that they approached the police that they have a threat, but unless there is a life-threatening comment made from the other person, like no action is taken and some – I mean thinking about this, it’s like criminals, they are smart enough and they are not necessarily going to make like certain comments and then proceed with it. I mean, not all the times and stuff like that, so in communities and societies, a lot of this kind of things are still lingering. 

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Well, I was actually involved back – almost 20 years ago with the first sections in the criminal code on stocking, people who, you know, are stalking other individuals and again, there are sections within the criminal code that if you are threatening an individual, I mean it becomes, I know, a bit of a policing matter, but I think it’s important for everyone in society to take these threats very very seriously  and again reach out and making sure that these get the kind of attention that they need. As justice minister, I don’t control the local police forces, obviously, but again we’re always looking at ways to help strengthen the criminal code as you can see from the bill that I have before Parliament, but this isn’t the last bill I’m going to put in or proceed with.

                                                I mean one of them is on citizen’s arrest, where we clarify the rules for a person to protect themselves when their property is threatened or when their life is threatened or their families are threatened. We’re clarifying the rules that haven’t been updated in this country for almost 170 years if you can believe it, but again, and even the citizen’s arrest, we’re making sure that we broaden the terms of that because again, our job is to stand up for people who have become victimized in our system and so we are always looking to forward the interests f victims and protect law-abiding Canadians and this is – this is our important mandate. This is what people told us they want.

Question:                            Right, but that just in particular, but are there any like amendments or maybe...

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        This particular bill deals with basically drug trafficking, people who are into the business of sexually assaulting children. It makes some changes to the youth criminal justice act so that those young people who are a danger to society and to themselves will be taken off the streets and detained, but this – it doesn’t deal specifically with the section of stalking. Again, the other bill I have on people protecting themselves from people who threaten their property or threaten themselves is a separate bill, but this bill is on those subjects.

Question:                            Okay.

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Thank you.

Operator:                          Thank you, merci. Once again, please press star one at this time if you have a question. De nouveau n’hésitez pas à appuyer sur étoile un pour toute question.  There are no further questions registered at this time. Il n’y a pas plus de questions pour le moment.

Hon. Rob Nicholson:        Well, thank you very much for those who joined us. These are always very helpful to get some feedback and input. Thank you very much.

Robert Goguen:              Oui, merci beaucoup.

Operator:                          Thank you, merci. This concludes today’s conference. La conférence est maintenant terminée. Please disconnect your lines at this time. Veuillez s’il vous plaît raccrocher votre ligne. Thank you for your participation. Merci à tous les participants qui se sont joints.

Robert Goguen:                  Merry Christmas.