I'm very pleased to do so, Mr. Wilks, and thank you for your contributions and the interest that you've taken in this issue, as well as many others in the criminal justice field.
When we had a look at the laws with respect to self-defence, they appeared, I think, to all reasonable individuals that they were out of date. Quite frankly, an analysis of that would show that in fact the main wording, and there were some changes over the years, was brought in, in 1840, in the colony of Canada West; in fact, it was Upper Canada at the time, before it became Canada West.
When you looked at it and you saw how complicated it looked, it was time to review that so that people would know what it is they are able to do to protect themselves, their families, and their property. That's exactly what the bill has done. In addition, we clarified the provisions with respect to a citizen's arrest, so that an individual has a reasonable period of time to apprehend someone they see who is committing a crime against them.
Both of these, I can tell you Mr. Wilks, have been well received. Again, much of the analysis sometimes is on how much this costs. Once you clarify the law so people know what it is they can do and what they can't do, the justice system works better for everyone. It's in everyone's interest. On both those counts, we have made improvements to the laws.
A little over a week ago, I was very pleased to be in Toronto to present Mr. Chen with a copy of the bill that his problems helped initiate.
Again, it's been well received, and it was an idea whose time had come. I'm very pleased and proud that the government got behind that as quickly as it did and we got it passed.