JUSTICE MINISTERS WANT TOUGHER LAWS

OTTAWA -- Criminals who use syringes as weapons should be punished as
severely as those who use guns, say provincial justice ministers who are
also lobbying Ottawa to create a new crime of "inhalant trafficking" and to
boost penalties for drunk drivers who ride with children.

The three novel proposals are part of a packed agenda that the provincial
and territorial ministers responsible for justice will pursue today and
Tuesday in Ottawa during their annual meeting with their federal
counterpart, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.

Nova Scotia Justice Minister Michael Baker said police in his province are
finding that robbers and other felons have been changing their weapons of
choice since 2000 when Parliament enacted a law requiring judges to impose
prison terms of at least four years for crimes committed with firearms.

"Unfortunately there seems to be a growing trend for people to threaten. .
. 'I have a syringe and I have got HIV and give me all your money'. Of
course this form of theft is no different than threatening somebody with a
gun -- from the point of view of the person being terrorized, the effect is
the same," said Baker.

"So we believe that it is very worthwhile to look at whether use of any
kind of weapon, whether it's a gun or a syringe is something that should be
included with a minimum sentence."

Manitoba Attorney General Gord Mackintosh said he will push for increased
penalties for drunk drivers who transport children, even for cases where no
accident occurs.

"Thirty-five U.S. states have done this already," he said. "It's not enough
that judges may from time to time consider child passengers as an
aggravating factor (in sentencing). Children deserve more. . . when an
impaired driver essentially has a child as a captive."

Manitoba and other western provinces are also lobbying for the creation of
new sanctions targeting "inhalant traffickers" -- people who sell common
household products such as adhesives or glue remover knowing they will be
used as intoxicants.

"We have legislation in Manitoba that allows for the shutting down of drug
dens and sniff houses -- 20 per cent of the houses that we have shut down
have been sniff houses," explained Mackintosh.

"But merchants of misery are often buying bulk products and then selling
them in individualized portions, particularly to youth, and packaging it
even with a bag and the intoxicating product," he said. "It's very
difficult to prosecute."

Topping the list of federal reforms urgently sought by the provinces is the
abolition -- or at least the severe restriction -- of the availability of
conditional sentencing. Conditional sentences such as house arrest,
curfews, electronic monitoring and other alternatives to incarceration can
be imposed by judges for offenders deemed not dangerous who would otherwise
be jailed for less than two years.

Most provinces want people who commit violent crimes or offences that
result in death to be ineligible for conditional sentences. Ontario
Attorney General Michael Bryant goes further, demanding that criminals
guilty of sex or child pornography offences not be permitted to serve
sentences in the community.

"I think public confidence in the criminal justice system is being eroded
because of the extent to which conditional sentencing is being used
inappropriately in crimes of violence," said British Columbia Justice
Minister Geoff Plant, summing up most provinces' view. "We have been
pushing successive federal ministers to do something about this. I want a
commitment from minister Cotler that there will be legislation."

The province and territorial justice ministers are also urging the federal
government to boost its financial commitment to legal aid which has been in
crisis across Canada for more than a decade.

"There are increasing pressures on legal aid in the country, and in
particular civil legal aid which is really legal aid for family law," said
Newfoundland Attorney General Tom Marshall.