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Criminals are getting walk in the park: chiefs

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Ontario's police chiefs say the justice system is so dysfunctional that convicted murderers and sex offenders are allowed to visit Canada's Wonderland.

York Police Chief Armand La Barge said yesterday he discovered over the summer that as many as nine hardcore criminals were given travel permits by their federal handlers to attend the amusement park.

La Barge said this illustrates how out of sync the justice system has become and its growing "insensitivity" to victims of crime. "Can you imagine the victims, who are still trying to put their lives together, running into their attackers?" asked La Barge, who is president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, following a Queen's Park press conference. He said sometimes these convicts are escorted and sometimes they are not.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has decided to launch a high- profile campaign targeting what it sees as serious flaws in the justice system -- both provincial and federal -- and the lack of appropriate sentencing.

"Conditional and intermittent sentences, house arrest ... mandatory parole and weekend passes to local theme parks do little to dissuade murderers ... child molesters (and others) from committing these horrific crimes," he remarked.

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant could only shake his head. "Don't ask me to defend it because it is not defensible," he replied.

A Correctional Service Canada official said this kind of permit is issued all the time. "Travel permits are issued for offenders who are being supervised in the community and they are authorized for a number of reasons, including education, employment, humanitarian reasons, medical reasons and recreation," Holly Knowles said. "If the reason for the application is any way related to the risk it will not be authorized. An offender who has an abstain from alcohol condition won't be authorized to visit a winery."

La Barge said at a time when police are overwhelmed by marijuana grow operations, guns and gangs, drugs, child pornography and organized crime, the courts are handing out the sentences that don't reflect the seriousness of the offences.

"The police and the public are quickly losing confidence in the system's ability to deal with those individuals who involve themselves in predatory, violent and organized criminal activity," he said. "We are looking for meaningful sentences for the types of crime we are dealing with ... there have to be consequences."

La Barge said the justice system is dogged with a "critical" lack of justices of the peace, constants remands, lengthy delays, overbooked Crown attorneys and a growing insensitivity toward victims of crime. Bryant said there is legislation being introduced shortly that will address some of these concerns as well as "streamline" the justice system so that serious matters are treated accordingly.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police has formed a criminal justice committee headed by former association president Tom Kaye, the police chief in Owen Sound, to push to "restore public confidence in this important institution."

At the same time as the Queen's Park press conference was being held, representatives from the country's largest police associations were testifying before a Commons committee in Ottawa, demanding a get-tough approach beginning with mandatory jail sentences for weapons-related offences. "It's time for us to pull our heads out of the sand and recognize the carnage on our streets," said Toronto Deputy Chief Tony Warr, who oversees the department's specialized operations command.

Toronto police are seeking a pair of further amendments to a proposed private member's bill, which faces a tougher procedural road than government- sponsored legislation, calling for a mandatory minimum of five years for using a firearm in the commission of an offence, 10 years if it is fired, and 15 years if it injures or kills. Warr said his force would like a five-year minimum jail term for possessing a firearm and an extension of the minimum terms to drug offences.

A federal Justice department lawyer said the bill likely wouldn't survive a constitutional challenge and "aren't worth Parliament's time." Detractors say there is little evidence minimum sentences work, and would probably result in more, not fewer, plea bargains.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has said he opposes mandatory sentencing on principle, although justice officials said a meeting next month between he and his provincial counterparts will likely result in proposals that seek to modify the Criminal Code and federal sentencing guidelines.