PROVINCES SET TOUGH AGENDA FOR COTLER

Includes Making 'Inhalant Trafficking' A Crime, Syringes As Bad As Guns

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

The three novel proposals are part of a packed agenda that the provincial
and territorial ministers will pursue today and tomorrow 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 criminals 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 Mr. 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.

Manitoba and other western provinces are also lobbying for 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," explained Mr. 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 conditional
sentencing. Conditional sentences such as house arrest, curfews, electronic
monitoring and other alternatives to incarceration can be imposed by judges
for offenders 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' views. "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.

Skyrocketing legal aid bills for criminal and immigration cases, combined
with shrinking federal transfers, have forced the provinces to cut or
eliminate service to low-income people in most civil matters. Some
provinces are bearing more than three-quarters of the tab.