(Ottawa) Conditional sentences should be banned in the majority of sexual assault cases, according to MP Rhéal Fortin. He plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks to return to minimum sentences for this type of crime and others committed with firearms.
“There would no longer be a conditional sentence for sexual assault and there would be minimum sentences for crimes involving firearms, but in both cases a judge could waive them in exceptional circumstances and if the sentence constituted a unjust punishment,” he explained in an interview.
His initiative follows the motion adopted unanimously by the National Assembly on Wednesday to condemn the controversial provisions of Bill C-5. The adopted text accuses Ottawa of inflicting “a setback in the fight against sexual violence”. It had been tabled by the Minister of Justice of Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette.
The impact of this federal law, adopted in November, has aroused much criticism. Men convicted of sexual assault are taking advantage of this to try to obtain prison sentences at home. The Press reported on Tuesday the case of Sobhi Akra, 39, who wishes to serve his prison sentence at home after pleading guilty to having sexually assaulted eight women between October 2017 and November 2018 by grabbing their breasts or their genitals.
The judge asked the Crown prosecutor and the defense attorney to comment on Bill C-5. Mr. Akra’s lawyer argued that this is a “measure that encourages recovery”. The Crown is instead demanding 22 months of detention.
At the end of January, Jonathan Gravel, 42, had avoided prison time at the Montreal courthouse for a violent sexual assault committed in 2014. Crown prosecutor Alexis Dinelle then lambasted the Trudeau government for reopening the door to conditional sentencing for this type of crime, abolished by the Conservatives in 2007.
“I think everyone understands that it takes minimum sentences,” said Rhéal Fortin. I think that the unanimous motion of the National Assembly also makes people realize that conditional sentences in cases of sexual assault are sometimes unacceptable. So, we have to correct the situation. You have to at least try. This is our job as parliamentarians. »
The member for Rivière-du-Nord had already proposed an amendment during the study of the bill to keep the minimum sentences while giving the latitude to the judges to exceptionally derogate from them with justification. He intends to go back to the drawing board and come back with a bill that he thinks could satisfy both liberals and conservatives, especially since the context has changed.
It would also include mandatory minimum penalties for crimes against the person with firearms. “We abolished the minimum sentences on that. It sends a somewhat clumsy and truly deplorable message to organized crime,” he said.
Called to react to the motion of the National Assembly, the federal Minister of Justice, David Lametti, said he was “proud of C-5” on Wednesday. In cases of sexual assault, he recalled that “serious crimes deserve serious consequences” and that judges have discretion to impose sentences depending on the circumstances.
Bill C-5 allows for the use of conditional sentences and provides diversion for simple possession of drugs offences. Its goal was to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous, Black or marginalized people in the criminal justice system by abolishing many Criminal Code minimum sentences.