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PM delivers remarks in Toronto
Thank you.
Good morning.
First of all, thank you, Peter, for that kind introduction.
I know, Peter, that this area is the professional area that got you into politics, and I know that you’ll make a tremendous contribution as the new Minister of Justice.
We look forward to your work on this and other matters.
Welcome as well to Minister Fantino, and to all of my Parliamentary colleagues who have come from all across the Greater Toronto Area today.
I know you’ve already been introduced, but we have a really a tremendous turnout, and look, it is great to have such a team in this important area of the country moving the Government’s agenda forward on big priority items like this, on the economy, on criminal justice, and of course, also managing to keep the summer weather going a little bit longer in Toronto as well.
That’s a federal responsibility, so we can take credit for that.
Also, I want to greet Lianna McDonald from
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, let me just begin by saying, you know, I really wish that we did not have to make an announcement like we are making today.
But the reality is that we are here because we must be.
Canadians want a justice system that puts the safety of our communities and our families first.
And we are here to stand up for
Very sadly, these measures are all too necessary.
Sex crimes against children are on the rise.
Child pornography offences have increased dramatically in recent years.
In fact, 40 percent of cases involving child predators include four or more charges.
And I’m deeply saddened to tell you that children represent more than half of all reported sexual assaults in
These are terrible numbers, but that is the reality that we face as a society and as a government.
And as a society and a government, we must focus on the rights of victims, especially the most vulnerable of all victims, our children.
As a father, frankly, I think I speak for almost everyone, I cannot even begin to comprehend why those who sexually prey on children do the heinous things that they do.
But sadly, there are truly evil people out there.
The fact is, we don’t understand them, and we don’t particularly care to.
We understand only that they must be dealt with.
We must deal with them to protect our children.
To protect our children, we must create a justice system that is more responsive to victims, and especially more responsive to children and to the families of children who have been victimized by sexual predators.
To be clear, we believe profoundly that over the years, the Canadian criminal justice system had become very unbalanced.
Over many long decades, the justice system had become skewed, progressively skewed, in favour of the offender.
Indeed, the system had become profoundly centred on the welfare of the criminal.
Sentences increasingly did not reflect the severity of the crimes for which they were imposed.
Often their effect was further diminished when people who had done dreadful things did not even complete their sentences or serve those sentences at home.
And nowhere has this been more offensive than in the lenient treatment handed out to sex offenders who target kids.
We all remember Gordon Stuckless, the man at the centre of the
He pled guilty to molesting 24 boys over almost 20 years.
But when he was convicted in 1997, he was sentenced to just two years, less a day, to be followed by three years probation.
Now, to be fair, the Crown appealed, and the sentence was raised to five years, but he didn’t even serve that.
He was paroled in 2001 after serving only about three years of his sentence.
Three years for 20 very serious offences.
That sort of thing was common at the time.
Of course, the victims, on the other hand, have to cope for the rest of their lives with what such people have done to them.
Self-evidently, there have been gaps in our justice system, and these gaps showed that the system did not properly value our most precious and vulnerable treasures, our children.
Canadians were frustrated.
As time went on, they became increasingly angry.
They demanded change.
And I’m proud to say that our Government has listened to them, to you, to the moms and dads of
Our Government has already closed some of the gaps created by earlier governments.
For example, we’ve introduced mandatory prison sentences for criminals who commit sexual crimes against children.
We have stopped the shameful practice of house arrest for serious and violent crimes.
And to stop forcing victims to relive terrible events, we have eliminated the so-called faint hope clause.
But there is more to do.
That’s why I’m pleased to announce today that this fall, our Government will introduce tough new legislation to protect
To be known as the “Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act”, this legislation will propose that those convicted of child pornography and child sex offences serve their sentences consecutively, one prison sentence after the other, particularly for offenders who have victimized multiple children; one sentence after the other.
The bill will increase both the minimum and maximum penalties for sex offences.
It will increase penalties for violations of release conditions.
It will provide that a crime committed while on parole or statutory release will become a mandatory factor in sentencing.
Finally, the act will ensure that the spouse of a person charged with child pornography offences can be obliged to testify in court.
Once passed, these measures will represent the most comprehensive law to combat sex crimes against children ever enacted in this country.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are doing this because every victim matters, because every child matters.
Every child should be able to live in a vibrant and safe community.
When any child is victimized by a sexual predator, the safety of all our children is called into question.
What sense of community do we have if we are fearful for our kids to leave their homes, if they can be preyed upon while using social media, and if those guilty of such acts are quickly let free?
That is not the kind of
Our goal, ladies and gentlemen, is a
Thank you.
