Liberals introduce legislation to end some mandatory minimum sentences | CBC News

The bill also would eliminate all six MMPs for offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. MMPs would remain for murder and sexual offences, as well as a number of firearms offences.

The bill is identical to Bill C-22, introduced in February of this year. That legislation died on the order paper when the federal election was called in the fall.

“With Bill C-5, we are turning the page on the policy of the former government. It is a policy that in the end did not discourage crime or make our justice system more efficient or more fair,” Justice Minister David Lametti said today. 

“All the approach did was imprison too many Indigenous, Black and marginalized Canadians.”

The Conservative government under prime minister Stephen Harper introduced many MMPs to the Criminal Code during its nine years in power. Many of those penalties were struck down by courts across the country as unconstitutional.

Critics of mandatory minimum penalties argue that they disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous and marginalized Canadians and lead to over-incarceration.

“Indigenous adults represent five per cent of the general population but account for 30 per cent of federally incarcerated inmates,” Lametti said. “That’s double where it was 20 years ago.”

Lametti said that Black inmates make up 7.2 per cent of the federal inmate population but only three per cent of the Canadian population.

“These statistics, this record, is shameful,” he said, adding that a mandatory minimum sentence does not allow a judge to take mitigating factors into account.

Eliminating all MMPs for drug offences

The firearms offences affected by this legislation include possessing a restricted firearm with ammunition, weapons trafficking, discharging a firearm while committing an offence, reckless discharge of a firearm, and extortion and robbery with a firearm.

The tobacco MMP to be repealed relates to the illegal sale of tobacco.

The legislation also would repeal MMPs for all six offences to which they apply under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, including possession, trafficking and the production of substances classified under Schedule 1 or 2 of the Act.

“This measure will allow for more effective rehabilitation and integration by allowing individuals to keep their job, to care for their children or family members or to seek counselling or treatment for substance and addictions abuse,” Lametti said. 

The justice minister said the decision to treat drug related crimes with rehabilitation and treatment is a clear move away from the approach of the previous Conservative government, which was more focused on punishment.

“This measure has proven to reduce the likelihood of someone re-offending,” Lametti said.