Community Groups Organize Against US-Style Justice Laws
Original Statement & Call to Action From Joint Effort & Sisters In Action and Solidarity
June 11, 2007

In order to appear "tough-on-crime", the Conservative Government has introduced a number of regressive Government Bills to amend the Criminal Code. The proposed legislation signals a major shift in our justice system; moving away from the principles of rehabilitation, restorative justice and alternatives to incarceration to a U.S. "lock-em up and throw away the key" style of sentencing. This overhaul of the Criminal Code will mean a dramatic increase in the number of people incarcerated in our prisons, jails and detention centres. Far from providing safety, these punitive measures will further devastate communities of colour, First Nations communities, immigrants and refugees, often racially profiled by law enforcement and already vastly over-represented in the courts and prison system.

The Canadian Criminal Justice Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the John Howard Society of Canada and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies in conjunction with the Native Women's Association of Canada all presented Briefs to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness recommending that Bill C-9, Bill C-10 and Bill C-27 be rejected outright, or not enacted into law in their present form (see below for links to these briefs). Despite this testimony and analysis of experts working in the field of criminal justice these bills are moving quickly through the House of Commons and the Senate.

With NDP support, the Tories are resurrecting Bill C-10, which creates several new mandatory minimum sentences for firearm offences and lengthens pre-existing minimums. Mandatory minimum prison terms remove judicial discretion and violate the principle that a sentence must be proportionate to the offence. Bill C-10 has passed in the House of Commons and is currently before the Senate.

The designation of dangerous offender carries an indeterminate prison sentence. Bill C-27 proposes to broaden the application of the dangerous offender legislation, by reducing the requirements for a finding of dangerousness. It places the onus on the defendant to prove, on a balance of probabilities that he/she is not dangerous and does not warrant an indeterminate sentence. This bill removes judicial discretion to decline a dangerous offender designation.

Time is short, we are asking for your support:

Joint Effort and Sisters In Action and Solidarity, two Vancouver-based prisoner support groups, are asking allies to join together to stop these bills from passing. We have drafted a survey that is going to Members of Parliament saying that the following organizations want to know how they voted on each of the above bills and why.

• Call your Member of Parliament and let them know that you do not support these bills, and you do not want them to support them either.
  
• Contact Senators and let them know that you don't support Bill C10, ask them to consider the recommendations made by CCJA, CBA, JHSC and CAEFS/NWAC, ask them to reject this bill. Sample letter you can send to a senator.