Clock ticking on bill to curb mandatory minimums as Parliament winds down

A bill aimed at eliminating mandatory minimum penalties for some firearm and drug offences is stuck in the legislative process, with just days to go before the end of Parliament's spring session.

The Liberal governmentintroduced Bill C-22 in February, but it has only gone as far as second reading in the House of Commons. The proposed law would eliminate mandatory minimum penalties for all drug offencesas well as for somefirearms offences; currently, anyone convicted of those offences is automatically sentencedtoa minimum amount of prison time.

With just a handful of sitting days remaining for Parliament before breaking for summer and a potential election looming, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said thebill remains "a priority."

"I think it's really important to be to be smart on crime. And that means that our policing, our court system, our sentencing provisions and records should be proportional to the offence," Blair told host Chris Hall in an interview for CBC'sThe Housethat aired Saturday.

But if C-22is not signed into law before an election is called something widely speculated to happen this fallthe bill willdie on the order paper and would need to be re-introduced in the next Parliament, effectively restarting the process. Advocates say this would delay much-needed changes to the Canadian judicial system.

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Public Safety Minister Bill Blair talks about the government's extension of the Canada-U.S. border closure, the ArriveCAN app for travellers and criminal justice reform.

Bill would restorejudicial discretion, expert says

Critics of mandatory minimum penalty rules arguethat they disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous and marginalized Canadians and lead to over-incarceration. When Justice Minister David Lametti introduced the bill in February, he presented it as one of the government's steps to combat systemic racism in the justice system.

"I'd like to think that this was not intentional," Blair said. "But unfortunately, what we have seen with with the overuse of mandatory sentences by a previous government is that it has really created a disparate and disproportionate impact on racialized and Indigenous people."

The previous Conservative government under Stephen Harperintroduced a broad array of mandatory minimum penalties (MMPs) intothe Criminal Code during its nine years in poweras part of a "tough on crime" agenda. Many of those penalties were struck down by courts across the country as unconstitutional.

Bill C-22 would eliminate MMPs for 14 of the 67 offencesin the Criminal Code that currently carry them as well asall six offences of that type in theControlled Drugs and Substances Act. MMPs would remain on offences like murder and sexual offences.

But the offences covered in Bill C-22 make up only a portion of the MMPs that were deemed unconstitutional by various courts.

Lisa Kerr, an assistant professor of law at Queen's University, toldThe House producer Jennifer Chevalierthe bill is meant to restore some discretion to judges when cases have mitigating circumstances, including cases involving someone "who is young, who's a first time offender, who has subsequent to the offenceturned our life around."

Kerr said the legislation is intended to ensure"that a judge doesn't have to send that person into custody when every other point of analysis in the case would tell the judge:send this person home."

Bill unlikely to pass, senator says

With several steps in the legislative process left to go and just three sitting days currently scheduled, Independent Sen. Kim Pate said all signs point to the end of Bill C-22 when the House of Commons rises for the summer.

It could be some time before any changes are actually made to Canadian law; if an election were called, Parliament would dissolve and effectively send any unpassed bills back to Square 1.

"Given that the government said a priority is to reduce the numbers of Black and Indigenous prisoners in our prison system, you'd think this would be a priority. But it doesn't seem to be at this stage," said Pate, who co-authored an opinion piece in Februarycriticizing the bill.

The public safety minister pointed the finger at opposition parties as a reason for the bill languishing in the legislative process.

"It's a priority for us, but I think it might be helpful if it was a priority for the entire parliament," he said.

Mandatory minimumsnot a deterrent, critics say

It's certainly a priority for those most affected by the rules accused or convicted Canadians.

Guy Felicellasaid he was convicted dozens of times over three decades in Vancouver for dealing and using drugs. After seeking helpand participating in therapy, he now works as a peer clinical advisor at the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.

He estimatedthat without mandatory minimums, he would have spent just three or four years in jailrather than the nine he did.

LISTEN | The fight to end mandatory minimum penalties:

CBC News: The House6:55The fight to end mandatory minimum penalties

A government bill meant to eliminate some mandatory minimum penalties for offences in Canada seems unlikely to pass before elected officials leave Ottawa for the summer. The House's Jennifer Chevalier hears from advocates and those most affected by the rules about why the changes should be a priority.

Felicella said that the existence of MMPs had no deterrent effect on him, and thatit was time to make changes to the system itself.

"You know, honestly, we have to not look at the person who's using drugs. We have to look at the system and say, 'look, this is really not working,'" he said.

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