Debates of January 20, 2004 (day 1)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the course of the past several months, a great deal of criminal activity has occurred in the riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes, as well as other parts of Inuvik. This raises a community-wide concern. In the opinion of my constituents, this issue has surfaced too many times in a number of forums without any recourse or corrective action.

Mr. Speaker, the issue of youth crimes is not the only source of contention or the only problem from my community’s perspective. At issue is the Criminal Code as it is applied under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Mr. Speaker, the “judicial measures” parts of the Youth Criminal Justice Act only reference how to deal with the conduct of judicial proceedings against young people.

Mr. Speaker, although the act itself conforms to the jurisprudence under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms where a young person must be provided with the opportunity to exercise his or her rights to counsel in private, subsection 25(2) requires the police to conform to this provision upon arrest or detention of a young person. Mr. Speaker, the majority of my constituents emphasize that this speaks mainly to the provision of counsel and in no way does this subsection refer to the powers under which the young offender can be arrested or detained. We need further clarification on the due process for the act to effectively reduce or minimize youth crime in all our municipalities.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to discussing this very important matter more thoroughly with the Minister and his officials, in an attempt to make my constituents more aware of the effectiveness of this act and I will ask the Minister pertinent questions at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause