“Addiction can happen to any young person, and our laws and budgets should reflect that. I want to know if the member agrees.”

“Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated to the member across the way, I applaud him and give him a tremendous amount of credit for having the courage to present his personal family situation. It takes a great deal of courage to do so. I think it is a great tribute to David, quite frankly, in recognizing that all lives do matter. I want to go back to the issue of the principle, because I think that is critically important here. This can happen to anyone. Young people can cross a road, and it can be very difficult as a direct result. This why it is important that, as legislators, we take that into consideration when we talk about the Criminal Code or budgetary measures. Could the member provide his thoughts on that?”

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  Question or comment in debate

  Signal 36 of 100

  Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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“I support this bill, and I hope it passes quickly. It gives courts the power to send young people to addiction treatment instead of jail. To make this work, provinces, courts, and communities will need to provide the right resources.”

“Mr. Speaker, I must say to my friend that he was very inspirational in the manner he presented the debate, not only today but even at second reading. He has been exceptionally respectful and very reflective of what has taken place and of the motivation that is there. It is appropriate to share it with his wife because of the impact it has on the family unit. One can have a great deal of sympathy for it. It is another thing to have empathy when living through it. I do applaud him, as I indicated in my question, for having the courage to share this in such a public way. It is a wonderful tribute to David, who had a wonderful life. I wanted to say that to my friend at the outset. I talk about the principle of the legislation because I think there is a great deal of sympathy from a vast majority of people when we talk about young people. We all recognize that being a young person today can be a challenge. It is a much different society we live in today and over the last decade than we had when I was growing up, whether regarding the availability of drugs, addictions issues or the Internet and the impact it is having on individuals and socializing. There are a great deal of bad characters in society; there always have been, but think of the degree to which they have become accessible. This is not a partisan issue. We need to have initiatives like this that give us a bit of a wake-up call as a collective of parliamentarians at both the federal level and the provincial level. One of the presenters commented on resources. We can pass wonderful laws, but if we do not have the resources and the will at different levels, we will not be anywhere near as successful as we could potentially be. I look to the provinces, because many of the courts, for example, are provincial courts. The role that law enforcement officers play is absolutely critical. There are the communities and stakeholders. Often, many of the stakeholders have outreach programs that try to keep in touch with the individuals who are feeling challenged with a wide spectrum of addictions. It is very real and very tangible. I suspect the bill will pass, hopefully very quickly out of the Senate chamber, because it is a good thing for the Parliament of Canada, both houses, to send this very strong message in a relatively short period of time through a strong, powerful, personal story and articulation on an issue that can have a positive outcome for not hundreds but thousands of young people. If we were to canvass parents as a whole, we would hear that every parent thinks about the raising of their child and the direction they are going to go in. We all hope they will make good decisions. Quite often, unfortunately, it is others who get involved in a certain life who get someone going in the wrong direction, or they get too deep, as the member’s daughter referred to. The deeper they get, the more difficult the challenge is. My experience comes in two forms. One is as a concerned parent and the other is because of a role I played when I was in the Manitoba legislature. There are a lot of hard, tough feelings with regard to young people who fall on the wrong side. What I did was get engaged with a youth justice committee. It provided a young person who made a mistake with the opportunity to go before a quasi-judicial group, a justice committee, where we would sit, listen and then come up with a disposition. If that young person fulfilled the disposition, there was no need for them to go to court and there was no criminal record, so if they wanted to go down to the States, for example, they could do that. It gave that young person a chance. When I look at what the member is proposing in Bill C-231, I see a lot of similarities. When I reflect on the years I spent on that justice committee, I know there is a great deal of support for a system that recognizes that at times we need a discretionary authority to do something good by giving someone a break. Providing youth justice courts, in whatever form they might be, and that leadership coming from the Parliament of Canada I believe sends a very powerful message. Hopefully we will see provincial legislatures look at what has been happening. I suspect provincial parliamentarians will take an interest. My daughter is an MLA. I will pass the idea of what is being talked about this evening on to her, and I suspect there will be other parliamentarians at the provincial level. When we look at the amendment brought forward that factors in mental health issues, we need to put more supports into the issue of mental health and well-being. We need to see more resources, and outcomes too, I must say, that deal with the issue of addictions. We can think of the damage it causes to the individual versus the family unit or the community from a social perspective. There is also a significant economic cost. I believe all of this makes a very strong argument that governments and stakeholders need to do a better job. When we are provided the opportunity through, in this case, our court system, I think we should take advantage of that. I hope that the judges, prosecutors and even defence lawyers out there will listen to the type of support the member opposite has generated. As the member pointed out, no one voted against the legislation. Three hundred-plus members of Parliament voted in favour of it. Some of those who did not vote in favour of it approached the member opposite. It then went to the committee stage, where, because of the manner in which it is being presented, the support being brought forward and the co-operation within the department, it was ultimately made into better legislation, as the member himself indicated, by incorporating mental health. First and foremost, I thank the member, his wife and his daughter for their contributions to making our communities better by bringing forward the legislation. I would also give thanks to anyone who was involved in making it to this stage. I look forward to it getting royal assent, before Christmas I trust.”

“I want the House to pass this bill. It helps young people in the justice system get addiction treatment instead of just punishment, and it lets courts delay sentencing so they can get help.”

“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today at the third reading to speak in support of the private member’s bill, Bill C-231, a bill that has benefited from thoughtful consideration and study at the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. I am proud to speak in support of Bill C-231, which proposes specific amendments to the Youth Criminal Justice Act, YCJA. Bill C-231 proposes to amend the YCJA to help youth with substance use disorders who come in contact with the criminal justice system to access treatment programs that will assist them in meaningfully rehabilitating and reintegrating into their community. More specifically, the bill proposes to clarify the instances when a young person in contact with the youth criminal justice system can be referred or ordered to participate in a treatment program and to enable, in certain cases, a youth justice court to defer sentencing to allow the young person to participate in a treatment program. In addition, the bill proposes to amend the YCJA to enable the youth justice court to include, in certain orders, the condition of attending a treatment program. The objectives of this bill align well with the objectives of the YCJA and the overall youth criminal justice system. The preamble to the YCJA calls on communities, families, parents and others concerned with the development of young persons to be active participants in the youth criminal justice system. The YCJA invites their involvement to prevent youth crime by addressing its underlying causes, to respond to the needs of young persons, and to provide guidance and support to those at risk of committing crimes. Bill C-231 enhances the YCJA’s multipronged approach to problematic substance use and seeks to improve outcomes for young people with substance use disorders who come in contact with the criminal justice system. At second reading of the bill, some members shared personal stories, as well as stories from constituents in their ridings. These stories remind us that problematic substance use and mental health issues affect all of us, whether directly or directly. These heartfelt and informative discussions continued during the committee’s study of Bill C-231. I want to thank committee members for their interest and active participation during the study of Bill C-231. Their candid and at times personal interventions helped nourish the committee’s discussions regarding potential amendments. I want to thank the witnesses who came forward and shared touching stories as well as insightful views on topics related to problematic substance use. We had the privilege to hear from family members of the member for Mégantic—L’Érable—Lotbinière, who tragically lost his son, David last year. We heard from Caroline Levesque, who is David’s mother and an early childhood educator, and Justine Berthold, who is David’s younger sister and a nurse. During their testimony, they mentioned that too often the youth criminal justice system focuses on offences and punishments without looking into the underlying cause of a young person’s offending behaviour. They spoke about the importance for the youth criminal justice system of having the right tools and said that enabling decision-makers to use these tools at the right time would improve the YCJA’s ability to support meaningful rehabilitation and reintegration. The committee also heard from Angy Riendeau, a criminologist who highlighted the importance of early interventions when it came to preventing and addressing the risk factors that can eventually lead to persistent criminality in adulthood. She noted that the amendments in Bill C-231 would add to the intervention mechanisms already available under the YCJA to better help young people access treatment, specialized assessments, care and appropriate resources in a timely manner. The amendments that were made during the clause-by-clause study of Bill C-231 are consistent with the views that were shared during the witness testimonies. All the amendments proposed were adopted unanimously by committee members. This showcases the close co-operation that this bill has cultivated among members. To further the bill’s objective of improving the YCJA’s public health approaches to problematic substance use, many of the amendments that were made to Bill C-231 at committee relate to the language used in the bill. For example, the term “addiction” was replaced by “problematic substance use” to align with the more modern, less stigmatizing language used in the Controlled Drug and Substances Act. Certain clauses of the bill were also amended to refer to problematic substance use treatment programs or any other treatment programs. This is to avoid unintended interpretations that may restrict access to other types of treatment programs, including programs focused on mental health or on behaviour modification and skills development. This broader terminology would also allow the YCJA to remain flexible and relevant, should types of treatment available to young people evolve over time. Furthermore, multiple amendments were made to Bill C-231 at committee, seeking to clarify, and at times broaden, the instances where decision-makers under the YCJA can refer or order youth to participate in a treatment program. For example, a coordinating amendment was added to ensure that prosecutors, in addition to police officers, must consider whether it would be appropriate to refer a young person to a problematic substance use treatment program before starting or continuing judicial proceedings against the young person. Moreover, amendments were made to clarify the situations when attendance at a problematic substance use treatment program or any other treatment program may be ordered as a sentence or as a condition to an order. For example, an amendment was made to explicitly mention that attendance at such treatment programs can be ordered as a condition of probation and continual supervision. These amendments would ensure greater consistency in the YCJA sentencing framework when it comes to problematic substance use, especially in the context of the Canada overdose crisis and the toxic illegal drug supply. The federal government is committed to a comprehensive public health and safety approach that focuses on connecting people to vital services, destigmatization and supporting prevention, treatment and recovery. In closing, I believe significant improvements were made to Bill C-231 during its clause-by-clause study and that it is ready for passing in the chamber. I urge all members to support it at third reading.”