Justice committee  Perhaps I can answer that. Some of the arguments have been well about prosecutorial discretion. The Crown does a review. It does a triage. It looks and withdraws those cases that are on the border. It's fairly clear. I believe the last panel referred to it. In R. v. Nur, which was a Supreme Court of Canada case, then Chief Justice McLachlin made it very clear that you cannot substitute prosecutorial discretion for judicial oversight.

Justice committee  It's my position that it's not the quantity but the quality. That was the purpose of my little narrative at the beginning. It's not about “How much time are you going to save?” or “Oh, there's only 5%. What does it matter?” Every person matters, particularly when we're looking at our presumption of innocence, those principles.

Justice committee  Thanks.

Justice committee  You're welcome.

Justice committee  I think in terms of using paper disclosure, you have to be concerned about what exactly you're getting out of it. You already heard during the last panel—and it could be applied here—Michael Spratt say it's about the “why”. Often in a very contained video or a very contained paper statement, you're not going to have the ability to pull out what is needed for trial, particularly because there is an ability to offer hearsay evidence at a preliminary inquiry.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  I do.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  I do appreciate what he had to say about that, but this is done under oath. It's not as if an oath is not there. In fact, it could be an atmosphere that would be more open for people who are unrepresented or for people from the indigenous communities, who feel oppressed by a courtroom.

Justice committee  At least when I think about the situation that has been going on in two cases that we have had in Canada, I believe that the Crown can make a motion before the judge and that the judge could be responding to the fact that the jury that's been chosen is not representative or that it's biased.

Justice committee  I don't know what's been going on in Quebec, but I can tell you that it has been used in a limited way in Alberta in restoration hearings when there are proceeds of crime or there's a forfeiture hearing. The cross-examinations on any affidavits that are filed for that have been going through that civil questioning.

Justice committee  Thank you.

Justice committee  Thank you very much. Mr. Chair and honourable members of the standing committee, thank you for giving me this opportunity to comment on the proposed amendments to the preliminary inquiry sections of the Criminal Code. It is a privilege to be here to speak about an issue that carries the weight of historical discourse and has engaged far greater minds than mine.