Justice committee  The only thing I'd add is that there exists a report on the wrongful conviction of James Driskell. One of the things the Crown did in that case was to prefer a direct indictment; they skipped over the preliminary inquiry. Thirteen years later, after James served all of those years in jail for something he didn't do, Justice Patrick LeSage looked into the wrongful conviction and concluded that the absence of a preliminary inquiry in that particular case, and the failure to discover the non-disclosure that led in part to the wrongful conviction, were contributing factors.

Justice committee  One of the things I spoke about before is that there are already tools on a case-by-case basis to avail yourselves of at a preliminary inquiry. A direct indictment, with the consent of the Attorney General, sends a case directly to trial. In cases where there's a particularly vulnerable complainant, there already exist tools to skip over a preliminary inquiry.

Justice committee  I think it's important to remember that, again, what appears on paper or what we see on a video can't tell us whether or not there is collusion between the parties. It can't tell, as Professor Silver says, whether or not it was first-hand information or something they heard from someone else that they haven't clearly articulated in that witness statement.

Justice committee  One of the things that you touch upon is that many racialized and aboriginal people are overrepresented in the justice system, which means that they leave the justice system with criminal records in record numbers. One of the things that bars a person from sitting on a jury is a conviction for an indictable offence.

Justice committee  What I don't like is the idea that we would use property rolls as a way to select juries, because again, there is inherent bias in the way that people end up on the rolls or off the rolls. I think there has to be a better way. It seems, though, that one of the better ways to do it is to assess people by their health cards.

Justice committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members. Thank you for the opportunity to address you all on Bill C-75. By way of background, I'm a criminal defence lawyer. I practise in Toronto, which is one of the busiest criminal court jurisdictions in all of Canada. Delay is something that is always on the front of mind of all the justice participants in Toronto—the judges, the Crown attorneys, and the defence.

Justice committee  Thank you.