Yes, they're with regard to proposed subsection 745.6(2.4). I don't know whether the government appreciates this, but given the pattern that we saw from all of the solid evidence we got, there is going to be an unintended consequence here of earlier applications than the existing pattern shows.
If you look at the statistics for the people who were released and the length of time it took to occur, and particularly if you recall the evidence of Mr. Sauvé concerning how long it took—he was one of the early applicants, that is, shortly after the 15 years—it took him about two years.
If you look at that pattern, what's quite clear is that the inmate, the convicted murderer, quite clearly at somewhere close to the 20-year mark—in the 18th or 19th year—is in the period of time when they consider applying. But many of them in fact do not apply until the 23rd year. That's the point at which the vast majority of them are.
Just do the math: the average stay is 25 years, and it takes about two years before they get out—that's what it was in 2009. It meant that the average person incarcerated for first-degree murder in this country did not make the application until the 23rd year.
The effect of putting in that you only can apply once—in effect, that you can only apply once at the five-year mark after the 15 years—is that you're going to get many more people applying earlier: they're going to say that because they're getting up to the 19th year they're going to do it now; otherwise they have to wait until the 25th year. We're going to see, I suggest strongly, and all of the evidence points this way, a great many more applications not at 23 years but at 20 years. Presumably, the vast majority of those who apply will, as now, be treated the same way: a certain percentage will be rejected at that point, but the majority of those who apply will in fact get out somewhat earlier than they would have but for this subsection.
It's because of the kind of approach taken by the government when they don't look at the facts and at the actual evidence in front of us that we end up with this unintended consequence. That's certainly not the consequence they want; they want people held for the full 25 years. This is what's going to happen; it's really inevitable that, rather than as in 2009, when the average person got out at 25 years, we'll see it go down to 22 or 23 years as an average.