Tory crime bill wants to lock ’em up

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The bill also downgrades almost all fac- ingly called it the “Prison is the Answer Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off his first Conservative-majority Parliament on Sept. 19 by introducing changes to the criminal justice system that seek to put more people in prison and keep them there longer.

The Tory crime bill imposes mandatory minimum sentences and restricts the availability of house arrest, thus depriving judges of discretion in such matters. These measures are not aimed only at serious offences; a person caught with as little as six marijuana plants would now face at least six months in jail. tors for consideration in the correctional and parole process, including the special needs of First Nations. This risks increasing the First Nations’ incarceration rate, which is already scandalous at 17 per cent of the overall prison population. Aboriginal peoples make up less than 3 per cent of adult Canadians.

Behind this regressive law-and-order crackdown by Harper is the uncontested fact that crime rates have been falling steadily in Canada for the past 20 years. This has led to much criticism of the reform bill, including by many in the mainstream media. The Globe and Mail mockto Everything” bill. The Toronto Star denigrated it as “a classic of misplaced priorities, a wholesale assault on a problem that doesn’t exist” that will cost billions. Star columnist Carol Goar warns that Harper’s adoption of U.S.-style crime policies will lead to a “disproportionate increase in the number of poor, non-white people behind bars.”

The Conservatives tried to pass many of the same provisions in previous parliamentary sessions, when they ruled as a minority government. However, they were blocked by the opposition parties, including the labour-based New Demo-