About 25 people gathered in front of Yukon MP Ryan Leef's office early Friday afternoon to protest Bill C-10, the Safer Streets and Communities Act.

The act, an omnibus bill to amend the Criminal Code, would, among other additions, require new prisons, eliminate house arrest and impose mandatory minimum sentencing for various offences.

The bill was a major campaign promise for the Conservative party, which promised to pass the legislature within 100 days of forming government.

But despite the upswell of support among the ruling party, C-10 has received negative criticism from citizens' groups nationwide and was recently condemned by the Canadian Bar Association in a press release.

"This bill will do nothing to improve that state of affairs,” the release said. "Through its overreach and overreaction to imaginary problems, Bill C-10 could easily make it worse. It could eventually create the very problems it's supposed to solve.”

The association believes the bill "ignores reality,” in favouring tougher sentencing over preventative justice. It also claims that C-10 increases the risk to youth in the criminal justice system and is being rushed through Parliament without due consideration to meet the 100-day passage benchmark.

The same sentiment brought local protesters to the steps of the local MP's office Friday. The group was led by local organizer Kim Melton, a member of Lead Now, a web-based citizens' democratic group with about 8,500 members across Canada.

For Melton, the omnibus represents American-style, "tough on crime” legislation and ignores the underlying causes of criminality.

"I have several reasons for being against this bill,” said Melton. "I think it targets the marginalized and the vulnerable in our society and it's tough on these people, it's not tough on crime. It's not helping people who commit crimes to deal with the causes of those crimes.

"It's just putting more people into holding tanks basically, and not addressing any of the systemic issues we have in our society right now.”

The local protest was part of a 165-riding, Canada-wide movement against the bill, orgainzed by several groups including Lead Now. It began with speeches by NDP Leader Liz Hanson, organizers and active citizens.

"The bill is premised on fear and not on fact, and it has huge negative implications,” said Hanson.

"If you care seriously about reducing crime, then you don't put people in jail for long periods of time. If you care about cost effectiveness, then you don't build super-prisons.”

Hanson believes that longer prison terms and mandatory minimum sentencing can have dire consequences for small communities, such as those in the Yukon.

"If you think of us as a community of 35,000 people, then restorative justice is what we have come to realize works,” she said. "Because people go back into the community, and if you have created hardcore criminals, you are going to have a really hard time when these people re-enter the community.”

Gathering in Leef's office, Melton presented a copy of a 30,000-signature petition organized by Lead Now, signed by people from across the country. The petition included about 150 signatures from the Yukon.

Patricia Bacon, executive director of the Blood Ties Four Directions Centre, addressed the group. Bacon said the bill will target certain, already marginalized groups within society at a disproportionate rate.

"We need to look to the U.S. because they have a message to tell us here,” she said. "You know, 25 per cent of the world's incarcerated population are Americans in American prison, and they are disproportionally African American.

"If we pass this, we are going to have a disproportionately high number in Canadian prisons who are aboriginal. There's no two ways about it. It's going to be young men, aboriginal men, and that's the way it's going to be, and we are going to pay the price as a society.”

Bacon did name a few Canadians she said may benefit from the new bill.

"I think (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper's big business cronies are going to do well under this contract because they will get to build and manage prisons,” she said. "There is money to be made for an elite few.”

Leef wasn't in his constituency office Friday afternoon.

Speaking to the Star this morning from his office in Ottawa, Leef continued to defend his support for the bill.

"I believe most Canadians support the bill,” he said. "I think we could debate some of the finer points as far as particular provisions go, but overall, Canadians are supportive of this and that is evidenced by the (May 2) election results.”

Canadians want to "set the bar” for criminal sentencing nationwide, he said.

"We have had a national shift in thinking in society... and when we see decisions levied by courts that we don't believe are offering recourse for the crime, Canadians have few options outside of the media or contacting our local MP to voice their social conscience and what we feel is appropriate.”

Leef believes the bill has often been misinterpreted by the media, which he says have undermined Conservative efforts to address the underlying causes of crime in their denunciation of the bill.

"I, for one, am in complete agreement in dealing with issues of dealing with the causes of crime,” he said, outlining issues such as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), drugs and alcohol as having profound effects on crime rates in the territory.

He prediected the bill will also not have much effect on Yukoners.

"It's not really going to affect the Yukon,” he said. "We are not seeing the kind of well-organized, high-level drug dealing and crime that these laws are going to address, but when we do, we'll know how to deal with them.”

He assured Yukoners on both sides of the equation that their voices will be heard.

"At the end of the day, we know there will be people who will not be happy with it, and I have certainly heard all the questions that have been raised and raised both sides of the argument in Ottawa,” he said.

"But we have good faith that what we are doing is right and we are going to continue to further it in the interests of all Canadians.”

Hanson doesn't buy it. Standing outside of Leef's office as the protest wound down, she called on all Yukoners to challenge the bill and to take their concerns up with the minister themselves.

"I think everybody has a responsibility to bring this up with (Leef),” she said. "He is our member of Parliament, and it doesn't cost a penny to write to a member of Parliament.

"E-mail is an excellent source there as well. He needs to hear from Yukoners. He needs to hear that we are not in support of this.”

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