“Netflix penalties”: Simon Jolin-Barrette asks Ottawa to revise law C-5

The Minister of Justice of Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette, invites himself in the federal electoral campaign by demanding parties that they undertake to depth law C-5 so that sexual attackers condemned as such cannot be so easily obtaining penalties of imprisonment to serve in the community.

The number of criminal causes to be concluded in this way has exploded in recent years, according to figures provided Tuesday by his cabinet.

Since the entry into force of C-5, in November 2022, no less than 706 people found guilty of a sexual crime (sexual assault, sexual exploitation, lure of children, etc.) have been condemned to serve their sentence in the community, which some detractors call “Netflix sentence”.

In 2023, for example, the Minister of Justice of Quebec identified no less than 263 cases. This number then increased to 347 in 2024. And it could be even higher this year.

From January 1 to March 14, 90 cases were counted. If the trend is maintained, therefore, it is more than 430 sexual attackers who, this year, will be sentenced to a “Netflix sentence”, seven times more than before the entry into force of C-5. In 2022, for example, less than 60 attackers had been sentenced to such a sentence.

In this context, Simon Jolin-Barrette, who is also responsible for Canadian relations, asks the federal parties in the campaign to take a stand against C-5, which has repealed the mandatory minimum sentences established in the 2000s by the conservative government of Stephen Harper.

We make so much effort in Quebec in the fight against sexual violence that it is not acceptable that [de tels individus] find themselves serving their sentence at home, because the judge must grant the stay when there is no history or according to the facts on the filehe deplored on Tuesday to A whole morning.

It is not the first time that Simon Jolin-Barrette has invited the federally to modify the C-5 law. He had notably taken up the pen, in February, to participate in the crusade of Prime Minister Alberta Danielle Smith aimed at convincing Ottawa to act more firmly against crime.

The National Assembly, moreover, has been asking for two years that C-5 be revised.

In February 2023, the elected officials of Quebec unanimously adopted a motion recognizing that this federal law goes against the efforts made to rebuild the confidence of people victims towards the justice system and that it constitutes A decline in the fight against sexual violence.

The text demanded from the Trudeau government that it modified C-5 in order to make the violation of sexual assault inadmissible to imprisonment in the community. The request, however, had not convinced the room of the municipalities to reverse.

Hairyvre agrees with Jolin-Barrette

First relayed by the Montreal Journalearly Tuesday, the release of Minister Jolin-Barrette quickly found echo on X with the conservative campaign.

I agree with the government of Quebec: we must abolish law C-5 to end the candy sentences and Netflix penaltiessaid Pierre Poilievre, who would also like to use the derogatory clause to allow judges to impose more severe sentences on multiple crime authors.

The block and the liberals voted for this law which allows dangerous sexual attackers to serve their Netflix sorrows at homeunderlined Mr. Poilievre, arguing that Only conservatives fight for the rights of the victims and to offer a more safe country for all Canadians.

Upon this support for a press conference on Tuesday morning, Jolin-Barrette praised the position of the conservative chief, just as François Legault had applauded the latter’s commitment to temporary immigration. However, he reiterated that his government will not support any federal political party this year.

The Bloc Québécois, the day before, was also committed to Restoring minimum penalties for crimes committed with a firearm, with the possibility of derogating from it with justification for judges, in addition to prohibiting sentences purged in the community for violations of sexual violence.