CANADA House of Commons Debates VOLUME 142 Ï NUMBER 034 Ï 2nd SESSION Ï 39th PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Monday, December 10, 2007 Speaker: The Honourable Peter Milliken CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) Also available on the Parliament of Canada Web Site at the following address: http://www.parl.gc.ca 1909 HOUSE OF COMMONS Monday, December 10, 2007 The House met at 11 a.m. I also want to comment on those possibilities where rehabilitation is not applicable and not appropriate. That has to do with people who suffer from some sort of mental disability. More specifically, I gave a speech in the House last Friday on this, on Bill C-251. It is related to Prayers warning labels on alcoholic beverages to caution those who see the label about impending danger. It is a consumer lighthouse just sending out a “be careful message”. That is all the bill is. PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS It relates also to the messaging dealing with things like how Ï (1100) alcohol can impair one's ability to operate machinery or equipment, [English] or to drive a motor vehicle. It is extremely important that we talk about the problem when there is consumption of alcohol during YOUTH CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT pregnancy. The House resumed from November 14 consideration of the motion that Bill C-423, An Act to amend the Youth Criminal Justice Recently, there have been some judicial statements with regard to Act (treatment for substance abuse), be read the second time and the problems coming before the courts. The latest I heard, and I referred to a committee. included it in my speech, was that almost half of the people who appear before the courts of Canada suffer from some sort of alcohol Mr. Paul Szabo (Mississauga South, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I am problem or alcohol related birth defect. pleased to speak to this bill today because alcohol is an issue which has been on my agenda as an item of consideration in terms of It is enormous when we think of the cost to the courts, the cost to legislative initiatives almost since I became a member of Parliament. the system to deal with this. This is a social problem which requires The particular bill before us has to do with trying to amend the a comprehensive solution. It is not going to be good enough to laws of Canada to provide an opportunity for those who are lecture people about them doing something bad and that they will incarcerated but can use help to deal with their addiction and their serve their time, the key will be thrown away and they will be there problem with alcohol. until the very end. I support the bill 100% because when we have a social problem, When people come out, they have to understand what the problem education is always part of the solution. It is part of the prevent is, but rehabilitation in our system is not applicable to persons who model. When we already have the problem, the other part of it is for instance suffer from alcohol related birth defects. remediation. Sometimes people make mistakes in their lives and it is Ï (1105) extremely important that people understand what problems they have, that denial has to be dealt with, and a person needs that As a consequence, questions also have to be asked, in addition to opportunity and that support. What we do not want to have is the issue that the member raises, about giving the kind of support to recidivism. people who are in jail who understand what they did, so that they can People eventually get out of jail and we have a justice system get treatment for their addictions and problems. However, what which includes, as part of its operations, the rehabilitation of people. happens to all the people who are in the same jails that are set up for With regard to most people rehabilitation may be appropriate. I say rehabilitation who have a mental disability such as fetal alcohol may be appropriate because I know that there are circumstances spectrum disorder? For them, rehabilitation is not applicable. under which rehabilitation is not applicable and not appropriate. What is wrong with our system? It needs to go further and perhaps However, in regard to the member's bill, we are talking about the member has an opportunity for another private member's bill he those cases in which there is an incident in which individuals who would like to champion. Our system should not assume that are incarcerated will have the opportunity to be available, so that everyone who is incarcerated, because of alcohol misuse or abuse, is they can have the benefit of the kind of assistance that they may need in a situation where rehabilitation is applicable. Maybe we have to to ensure that they understand what their problem is, why it start talking about the equality of our criminal justice system in terms happened, and how to cope and deal with it in the future. I support of addressing what happens after we have the problem and whether the bill 100%. or not the jails generically are applicable to all. 1910 COMMONS DEBATES December 10, 2007 Private Members' Business Maybe there should be special institutions where people get an Ï (1110) opportunity to be able to cope with a permanent disability. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is 100% preventable, but it is not curable. [Translation] In that regard, we are talking about prevention as well as some sort Mrs. Carole Freeman (Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, BQ): of remediation, only to the extent that one would have the kind of Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to take part in the debate at assistance that the person may need to cope, as well as the kind of second reading on Bill C-423, An Act to amend the Youth Criminal assistance that the families need to cope. Justice Act (treatment for substance abuse). People who know anything about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder Essentially, Bill C-423 adds two new provisions to this act to flesh will know that the parents have a lifetime responsibility of caring for it out more with respect to young addicts. their children. Most of them never make it through school. Most of them are going to have problems in the labour force. Most of them Briefly, the bill introduced by the member for Edmonton—Mill are going to run afoul of the law, not because they did something Woods—Beaumont provides that a police officer must, before wrong but because they did not know it was wrong. starting judicial proceedings or taking any other measures under this act against a young person alleged to have committed an offence, They can be told 100 times not to do something because it is consider whether it would be sufficient to refer the young person to wrong and they will still do it, but it is not because they understand an addiction specialist for assessment and, if warranted, treatment and just want to react and rebel. In those cases, people who have recommendations. FASD do not know the difference between right and wrong, and there are many cases. Bill C-423 would also add a clause at the end of section 6 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act stipulating that if the young person enters I wanted to raise that perspective here because the bill tends to into a treatment program as a result of such a referral and fails to address all those who are incarcerated from the standpoint that they complete the program, the outcome may be the start of judicial are all the same, they are all subject to the same kinds of proceedings against that young person. rehabilitation possibilities, and that we should have that. In my opinion, Bill C-423 is a welcome change from the justice Yes we should, for those who can be rehabilitated, but what bills introduced by this government since it came to power. Instead happens to those who have no possibility of rehabilitation, those of the usual Conservative “law and order” ideology that, under the with permanent brain damage and permanent disabilities? They are pretext of protecting public safety, would send more people to prison likely to reoffend, not because they are bad people but because they without reducing the root causes of crime, Bill C-423 offers valid have a mental disability. alternatives to incarcerating minors, which is more important. Regarding this whole question of addressing addictions in our To all those who are watching us, I want to say that a strictly society, whether it be alcohol, drugs or anything else that can be punishment-oriented public safety strategy will never make our harmful if misused, we need to ensure that we understand what societies more vibrant or our prisons less overpopulated. In my happened, why it happened, how to prevent it, and how to remediate opinion, when young people become involved in the criminal justice it. system, it can exacerbate the problem and be very costly. These are negative results that have an impact not only on the individual There are many elements to it. This bill deals in part with part of involved, but on society as a whole. This situation must therefore be the equation, but our criminal justice system has a very narrow avoided whenever possible. focus. It says that if people do something wrong, they are going to jail. They will stay there, do their time and they will be subject to Consequently, the approach taken by Bill C-423 is commendable: rehabilitation.