Official Hansard
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.
