Public Security Minister Bill Blair said that before the summer recess, Parliament had only a few days left to meet and potential elections were imminent. Public Security Minister Bill Blair said the bill was still a “priority.”

“I think it’s really important to be smart about crime. This means that our police, our court system, our sentencing regulations and records should be proportional to crime,” Blair told host Chris Hall CBC interview house Aired on saturday.

But if C-22 is not signed into law before the election- Widely guessed It will happen this fall-the bill will become invalid on the order document and will need to be reintroduced in the next parliament to effectively restart the process. Supporters say this will postpone much-needed changes in the Canadian judicial system.

Listen | Public Security Minister Bill Blair discusses criminal justice reform:

Experts say the bill will restore judicial discretion

Critics of mandatory minimum penalty rules argue that they have a disproportionate impact on blacks, Aboriginals and marginalized Canadians and lead to excessive imprisonment.When Attorney General David Lametti introduced the bill in February, he stated it as One of the government’s measures Combat systemic racism in the justice system.

“I don’t think it was intentional,” Blair said. “Unfortunately, we have seen the previous government’s excessive use of mandatory judgments, which did have a very different and disproportionate impact on racialization and indigenous peoples.”

As part of the “strike crime” agenda, the former Conservative government led by Stephen Harper introduced a wide range of mandatory minimum penalties (MMPs) into the Criminal Code during its nine-year administration.Many of these penalties are knock down It was deemed unconstitutional by the national courts.

Act C-22 14 of the 67 crimes in the Criminal Law that currently includes MMP and all six crimes of this type in the Controlled Substances and Substances Law will be eliminated. MMP will remain on crimes such as murder and sex crimes.

However, the crimes covered by Bill C-22 only constitute part of the MMP considered unconstitutional by various courts.

Lisa Kerr, assistant professor of law at Queen’s University, told house Producer Jennifer Chevalier (Jennifer Chevalier)’s bill aims to restore some of the judge’s discretion in cases where there is a mitigating penalty, including those involving “young people, first offenders, who have changed our lives after a crime” Case.

Kerr said the legislation is designed to ensure that “when all other points of analysis in the case tell the judge: when the person is sent home, the judge does not have to detain the person.”

The senator said the bill is unlikely to pass

As there are still a few steps left in the legislative process, only three days of meeting time are currently scheduled. Independent Senator Kim Peet said that all signs indicate that the C-22 bill will end when the House of Commons convenes in the summer.

It may take a while before any changes to Canadian law are actually made; if elections are held, Parliament will dissolve and effectively return any unpassed bills back to Square 1.

“Given that the government has stated that its priority is to reduce the number of black and aboriginal prisoners in our prison system, you would think this will be a priority. But it doesn’t seem to be right now,” Pat said.Co-author A review article in February Criticize the bill.

The Minister of Public Security blamed the opposition parties as the reason for the stagnation of the bill in the legislative process.

“This is our priority, but I think it might help if it is a priority for the entire assembly,” he said.

Critics say that mandatory minimum standards are not a deterrent

For those who are most affected by the rules-Canadians accused or convicted, this is of course a priority.

Guy Felicella said he was convicted dozens of times for dealing and using drugs during his 30 years in Vancouver. After seeking help and participating in treatment, he now works as a peer clinical consultant at the BC Substance Use Center.

He estimated that if there was no mandatory minimum, he would only spend three or four years in prison instead of nine.

Listen | The struggle to end the mandatory minimum punishment:

Felicella said that the existence of MMP has no deterrent effect on him, and it is time to make changes to the system itself.

“You know, honestly, we can’t look at drug users. We have to look at the system and say,’Look, this really doesn’t work,'” he said.

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