I would like to call the meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to order. The orders of the day are for the study of Bill C-9, an act to amend the Criminal Code for conditional sentence of imprisonment.
We have four presentations today: the first from Mr. Gary Mauser, a professor at Simon Fraser University of British Columbia; the second from the Canadian Bar Association; the third from the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness, Mr. John Muise; and fourth, from Ms. Isabel Schurman, a lecturer at McGill University.
I'm going to go in the order set out in the notice of meeting. We will start with Mr. Mauser. I would ask that the presenters keep their comments down to ten minutes.
Mr. Mauser has to leave a little early. We appreciate your attendance. I know you're under pressure to get moving; I know the members have some questions for you. So we will ask you to begin, Mr. Mauser.