I don't think our courts would throw that principle out the window. In fact, I think they hold it as probably the most fundamental principle, as do we as Canadians. That's why we're here today.
We have one case, the Wholesale Travel case, which is post-charter, that was decided on this issue. The Wholesale Travel case allowed for this situation.
I'd like to look at the Wholesale Travel case in a little more detail. When I read it in further detail and read all the opinions that experts in constitutional and criminal law have provided us with, I can see that it is a decision that is very divided. It's a 5-6 decision on this issue. The actual facts are very specific—and very specific to an individual—and targeted.
I have to say that when I read Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin's statement in that case, I take comfort that in Canada we would not throw out the presumption of innocence. But we don't want to have to get to the point at which we have a seafarer, in order to defend himself, ending up running through the courts to the Supreme Court of Canada with $1 million of legal fines behind him. When I see and read Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin saying that the penalty for imprisonment cannot, without violating the guarantees in the charter, be combined with an offence that permits conviction, I take comfort.