Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
The Canadian Bar Association is very pleased to have an opportunity to present its views to you today on Bill C-9. The CBA is a national voluntary organization comprising lawyers, law professors, law teachers, notaries, and law students from across the country. The submission you have before you today was prepared specifically by the criminal justice section.
Just a word about the section: it is unique amongst criminal justice organizations within Canada in that its members comprise both crown and defence attorneys, and the submission you have before you marks the consensus of those two groups coming together.
I have with me today Mr. Adrian Brooks, who is a member of the executive of the section. I will ask him to address the substantive areas of the bill.