During the hearings for the Special Committee on Health and Social Services in the past year and a half, we have heard a lot about violence from people in communities all across the north. We heard about violence against women, children and the elderly. Much of what we heard could be dealt with if the recommendations found in Justice House: The

Report of the Special Advisor on Gender Equality were accepted by this government and dealt with.

People in the communities feel very strongly that right now, someone who commits violence against another person is often treated better than the victim and that there is tacit acceptance still, in many of our communities, that violence is acceptable. We have to get past that. We have to make sure we get past the denial that is rampant and start to come up with concrete action to deal with the problem.

In the final report of the Special Committee on Health and Social Services, we made a number of concrete recommendations which would help deal with some of the problems. For instance, we heard in many communities about women and children being further victimized by having to be relocated from the family home after an episode of violence, and really being victimized when they had to relocate out of the community. There is, among our communities, significant support for making sure it is the offender who is most inconvenienced by episodes of violence.

We have to make sure we take the concrete actions necessary to deal with that. We have to make sure we require two signatures on our leases so that we can make sure the rights of both partners are protected. We have to make sure there is a clause in the lease that says that the offender is the one who has to leave the home in the case of family violence. We have to make sure there's not the sort of delay in justice that takes place right now that leads the offender to believe they can get away with violence and leads the victim to believe that justice is not going to serve them.

I'm pleased to see that the government, in their response to the recommendations from the Justice House report, is considering methods of speeding up the process, for instance, in accordance with recommendation 57, which says that occasionally there should be consideration given to proceeding with charges by way of summary conviction. We have to be careful we are not diminishing the penalties for violence, but in some cases this might be one way to make sure that charges are dealt with quickly, recognizing always that justice delayed is often seen as justice denied.

We have to make sure that there is appropriate counselling for both offenders and victims. I haven't seen too much of a response yet from this government, in that field. It is one of the strongest recommendations the special committee made. We also heard a lot in the communities about the concern for child sexual abuse. We have to make sure we are dealing with that problem. There is a concern, not only with the treatment of offenders and those who have suffered from abuse, but we have to also find some way to ensure that our judicial system is dealing with offenders.

Right now, in many communities, there is a feeling that juries, for instance, are often being too lenient. If that is a prominent feeling that perhaps indicates a belief that the problem is not being seen in the community as seriously as it should be. This government has to take steps to make sure that people in communities are recognizing just how serious problems like that are.

We have also heard many times about the problem of elder abuse, physical, emotional and financial. We heard that one way this government could deal with it would be to ensure there is an adult protection clause in the Guardianship and Trusteeship Act. We've got to get that sort of legislation in place, quickly. That's a concrete action we can take.

We have to make sure that elders are aware of how to get help when they are being abused. Again, that is an action this government could take. We have strong support for this government designating one position as being a contact for elders so they could get information about programs and services which might be available to them, including how they can deal with situations of abuse. We heard strong support for this government providing support to assist self-help groups, regionally and locally, get underway so that they can provide counselling and assistance to elders who need to find out how they can deal with situations of abuse.

Mr. Chairman, I think it is very important that we talk about the issue of violence. It is a very important first step because it has been swept under the carpet for far too long. But, we've also got to make sure that we've got some teeth. There has to be some enforcement. There is no point in having a declaration on violence or a policy on violence or a code, if there are no teeth, if there is no enforcement.

The Minister has proposed that this Legislature deal with the declaration on family violence. I agree. It is a demonstration of leadership and commitment. But, further on in his opening remarks today, the Minister suggested that perhaps Members in this House might want to indicate the seriousness of our commitment by considering making changes so that it would be mandatory that anybody who is convicted of family violence, while holding public office, would be required to resign his or her seat. Mr. Chairman, I know that I, for one, would very strongly support that kind of initiative, and I would hope that the Minister would consider bringing forward legislative amendments to bring these changes about.

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That's the sort of thing we need to see. We have to see some teeth. Mr. Chairman, the government's response to The Justice House, the report of the special advisor on gender equality, is good, but it doesn't go far enough. Too many of the issues are referred to other agencies like the Crown, to Justice Canada, the judicial council. What we need is a commitment from this government to follow up on the recommendations and apply pressure to those agencies. Not just refer, but apply pressure to those agencies to react to those recommendations.

Similarly, the Minister's paper on "Building a Strategy for Dealing with Violence" is good because it lists all the things we need to consider while we're dealing with developing a strategy. It lists the issues for which we need to see the clear leadership on how we're going to achieve those goals. In fact, without a system set up to monitor, and a system set up to ensure accountability, there is bound to be justified public cynicism about whether anything will happen.

I think, Mr. Chairman, that one thing I would very strongly urge this government to consider is following one of the recommendations, in particular, from the final report of the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, and set up a zero tolerance accountability board. Such a board would monitor progress in the campaign to end violence, and could report publicly on progress and on problem areas. It could help to ensure that the public does see that we are taking some concrete steps to deal with the problems we face in the north. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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