Madam Minister, at an earlier meeting, my colleague gave the following definition of the word “amnesty”:
An undertaking by the government to retroactively erase the punishable nature of the offence to which it applies. Depending on the case, amnesty may prevent or quash public prosecution, set aside a conviction, or terminate a sentence being served….
Whether the agency acknowledges the term or not, French-speaking Canadians recognize the concept in this case, as do I. Once again, we are dealing with a letter that specifies that the people who say they used this scheme will face no penalty, when, in fact, they should face one. At least in French, that is what we call an amnesty.