Location
Ottawa Ppotest to end omnibus crime Bill C-10 - Families for fiscal and social responsibility!
"Jobs not jails"
Speakers to include:
Kim Pate, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (winner of the 2011 Governor General's Award)
Catherine Latimer, Executive Director, John Howard Society of Canada
In days, the Conservative Government of Canada will try to push through a crime law that could drastically raise our taxes and dole out harsher punishments for marijuana users than pedophiles. It is seen as a wrong turn for our country that will change the face of our democracy so drastically that Quebec and Ontario have refused to pay for the bad law.
Crime rates in Canada have been falling steadily for over a decade yet Harper insists on spending our money to lock up our most vulnerable citizens like youth and aboriginals. Spending billions on bad crime laws means that our taxes will rise or valuable social programs like Employment Insurance will be cut. Quebec and Ontario have already said they won't pay. Now it is time to stand up with fellow Canadians to protect ourselves from this useless financial and social expense.
The proposed mandatory minimum penalties policy has been applied in many U.S. States which has caused massive overcrowding and U.S. States are reversing these decisions because of human rights violations and because they are going bankrupt. These States, including Texas have also found that mandatory minimum penalties does not deter crime and now Harper wants to implement them here in Canada -- but we can still stop him.
This method of sentencing challenges the democratic system that Canadians hold dear. Quebec Bar Association spokesman explained this to the Ottawa Citizen, saying that "Minimum sentences send a terrible message to society because they give the impression that Parliament does not trust our courts and our judges to do their jobs...It undermines one of the basic foundations of our democratic society, which is our court system."
Please join us, we will hear experts working in this area speak and then we will march over to the Supreme Court of Canada where we will hear two additional speakers followed by a celebration of our Canadian rights and freedoms.
