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Violent criminals, gangs under attack in Ottawa
Sitting at the kitchen table of the family farm house in Georgina, Peter Van Loan appeared calm while talking about keeping violent criminals and gangs off Canadian streets. Following the federal election, Mr. Van Loan, who represents the riding of York-Simcoe, was named Canada's public safety minister, a portfolio that includes responsibility for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Correctional Services Canada, which includes prisons, and the National Parole Board. He is also responsible for emergency disaster management as well as the anti-crime and guns and drugs strategies, he said. It's a tall order."The prime minister asked me to take the job - it's a simple as that," said Mr. Van Loan, who served as government house leader during the last session of Parliament. "You don't do a lot of negotiating when the prime minister asks you to take the job. You do it." This week, Mr. Van Loan sat down with the York Region Media Group to talk about his vision for the ministry - a job he took over from Stockwell Day - and the state of public safety in Canada. A top priority of the Conservative Party's crime platform, he said, is to ensure convicts no longer qualify for automatic release after serving two-thirds of a sentence and replace it with an eligibility for parole. The party also promised during the election it would end house arrest for serious crimes.There are too many examples of convicted people offending while on house arrest, Mr. Van Loan said. However, he admitted he expects the number of people in prison to increase, under the government's plans to potentially incarcerate people for longer periods of time. "We will obviously have to watch that closely and balance all the pressures that exist in the system but, logically, if we end statutory release - which is people basically getting out automatically at two-thirds of their sentence - there will be some people who ... will still be in prison," he said. "So, logically, I expect the numbers to go up a little bit, but we have to figure out how we manage that in the context of other trends, like the change in the demographics, which actually reduces the per capita prison population a little bit." He also wants to invest additional resources into programs designed to divert youth from gangs by identifying who is at risk, why they choose that lifestyle and try to give them alternatives and positive reinforcements, he said.Progress has been made in the country on decisions about when to release offenders, but the government continues to have concerns about increased violent crime and increased gang activity, he said. When asked about calls for a handgun ban - calls which have been supported by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller - Mr. Van Loan said handguns are basically already banned. "If they are already virtually banned, banning something that's banned doesn't get you very far," he said. "The question is: how do you shut down the trade on illegal handguns?" On the issue of the federal gun registry, with which the Conservatives pledged to do away, Mr. Van Loan said the critical thing is to keep handguns off the streets and ensure controlled access to guns of any type - long guns included. "We would like to see more resources targeted at that stage of the process, the Firearms Acquisition Certificate, making sure you have the right background checks there," he said. The gun registry creates a paper burden in which mistakes can be made, he added."You divert huge financial resources to running it, huge personnel resources to that and I remain far from convinced that is the best expenditure of resources," he said. "I would rather see those resources spent on law enforcement, efforts to keep youth out of gang activity and on trying to secure our traffic across the border on the handgun front." He also said the government will look for opportunities to work with United States President-elect Barack Obama's administration on a more "practical approach" to border security issues, while keeping the trade relationship between the two nations in mind. He mentioned the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that requires all travellers, including Canadian citizens, to present a valid passport or other approved secure document when entering the U.S. from within the western hemisphere."A lot of things have happened on the border, things going back and forth, that have been challenging for Canada, that have impaired trade," he said. "We have had not necessarily smarter security but just more security rules, some of which, it might be fair to say, are a little bit excessive." The proposal to identify young offenders by name, which became a controversial subject in some circles during the election, would be a judge's discretion and would only apply to the most serious offences and would only take place after a conviction, Mr. Van Loan said. He also said he does not believe the release of a young offender's name would, commonly, boost the person's street "credibility" with criminals or gangs. "I imagine it is few and far between where that would apply," he said. "And, if they're that kind of person, you already have serious problems with them." The public safety ministry's foundation is what used to be known as the nation's solicitor general job but it also includes elements of the defence, justice, revenue, correctional services and agriculture and food departments, he said."Lots to digest, a lot of issues - but it is also an odd one in that many of the things you have (responsibility for) are kind of at arms length," he said. "I'm responsible for the RCMP but I can't tell them how to do their job." E-mail Peter Van Loan at vanloan.p@parl.gc.ca For a video on this story, go to yorkregion.com Have your say What do you think about Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan's views on crime and justice and the government's direction on this issue. We want to know. E-mail jfantauzzi@yrmg.com |