Speech in the House of Commons

April 16, 2010

Bill C-5: An Act to amend the International Transfer of Offenders Act

Mr. Rick Norlock (Northumberland-Quinte West, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to join in the debate on Bill C-5 and to outline yet another way our government is delivering on its commitment to keep our streets and communities safe.

As my hon. colleagues have mentioned, our government has already done a lot of things in that regard over the last four years. We have taken steps to ensure that violent criminals are dealt with appropriately. We have introduced legislation to ensure that serious crimes are met with serious jail time. We have given police and law enforcement officials the tools and resources they need to do their jobs. All of these initiatives are vital to our work of building safer communities for everyone, as is the legislation before us today. Our government has made public safety the number one priority since we were first elected in 2006. That is what the legislation we have introduced today is all about.

Bill C-5 would help to ensure that Canadians continue to feel safe in their homes by strengthening the International Transfer of Offenders Act. Specifically, the legislation we have introduced recognizes that considerations of public safety are the very centre of decisions about whether offenders serving sentences abroad are transferred to Canada.

Our government has also made sure that helping victims of crime remains at the heart of this government's public safety and justice agenda. We have committed to ensuring that their voices are heard and that their concerns are taken seriously. That is one of our highest priorities and why we have taken action on a number of fronts. The legislation our government is proposing would help further strengthen this track record by ensuring that the safety of victims can be taken into account when assessing requests for transfer.

As well, the changes which our government is proposing stipulate that the safety of family members and children be taken into account. The minister will specifically be able to consider whether the transfer of an offender with assault convictions against family members would endanger their safety.

The minister will also be able to specifically consider whether an offender incarcerated for a sexual offence against a child in a foreign state is likely to commit a sexual offence against a child if transferred to Canada.

Surely, these changes make sense.

The way things stand today the minister is required by law to take several factors into account when considering a request for transfer. These include: whether the offender's return to Canada would constitute a threat to the security of Canada; whether the offender left or remained outside Canada with the intention of abandoning Canada as his or her place of permanent residence; whether the offender has social or family ties in Canada; and, whether the foreign entity or its prison system presents a serious threat to the offender's security or human rights.

These are important considerations to take into account. But nowhere in the current law is there specific mention of protecting the safety and security of law-abiding Canadian citizens. Nowhere is there any specific mention of victims, family members or children. These are serious omissions which the bill before us today will correct.

As well, Bill C-5 would allow the minister to consider a number of other factors when considering an offender's request for transfer. For example, the minister will be able to consider whether an offender who requests a transfer to Canada has refused to participate in career, vocational or educational programs while incarcerated in another country.

The minister will be able to take into account the circumstances in which the offender, if transferred to Canada, will be monitored and supervised after release. This is especially important given that one of the purposes of the act under the amendments our government is proposing will continue to be contributing to the administration of justice and the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community.

Bill C-5 would also allow the minister to take into account several other very important considerations when assessing an offender's request for transfer. These are: whether the offender has accepted responsibility for the offence for which he or she has been convicted, including acknowledging the harm done to victims and to the community; and whether the offender is likely to continue to engage in criminal activity after the transfer.

Again, these considerations should surely help to guide decisions about whether to grant a request for transfer from an offender serving a sentence overseas, but at the moment there is no clear legislative authority for the minister to take them into account. That is what Bill C-5 will change, by also providing the minister with more flexibility in decision-making itself.

The legislation which our government has introduced today is designed to keep Canadians safe. It is fair. It is timely and it is what Canadians want. I therefore urge all members to work with this government to ensure its speedy passage.

Mr. Scott Simms (Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague for his speech, and also my colleague before him who also made a speech. I never had the opportunity to get up and ask him a question but I will bring it to my colleague from Ontario.

Bill C-5, from what I understand, is to enhance public safety, which is the major key plank of this particular legislation, and which was never thought of before, as was pointed out by him. One of the things that he said was regarding the ability to rehabilitate, as assessed by another country. For example, if someone is in the United States right now and there are programs available for him or her to rehabilitate, vocational and certain programs such as that, if that individual is unable or certainly unwilling to take steps or measures to rehabilitate, that would be used against that individual applying for the transfer into this country. Is that necessarily the case? What about in countries that do not necessarily have the programs for rehabilitation? That too would be considered.

Is that my understanding of it? Is that what he is pushing for? In other words, to rehabilitate someone or to gauge that person's ability to rehabilitate also depends upon the system in that country.

Mr. Rick Norlock: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for a very pertinent question. In answer to his question regarding a prisoner in the country concerned, if that country does not have a prison system which affords the ability for rehabilitation or to further one's education and to develop skills, of course this legislation permits the minister to take that into account.

Countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Norway and other countries have similar correctional facilities to Canada, and I particularly refer to countries like Norway and Great Britain, who said, when we visited the prisons there, that 60% of their programs were adopted from Corrections Canada. It would make it very easy then for the minister to be able to make that assessment.

The member rightly reflects upon and mentions the fact that we really do want to make sure that people are rehabilitated, so in answer to that question, that is all taken into account under Bill C-5 and that would be one of the principle considerations that the minister would make.