Certainly. Last year, I was lead counsel on a first-degree murder trial. There were four accused. My client was a racialized young man charged with a fairly publicized homicide in a large urban area. There was a challenge for cause to address the publicity issue, but obviously I was extremely concerned that the generally overrepresented juror—that is, our white, older, affluent homeowner—not necessarily make up my 12-member jury. I used peremptory challenges to do everything I could to get young persons, to get minorities, to get immigrants, and to get people who might have different life experiences, or different experiences with the justice system, onto that jury. I used peremptory challenges, as my colleagues do all the time, to make the jury more diverse.
I agree with Professor MacDonnell that we're starting from a really bad situation. It is bad. It's funny that, until I read Justice Giovanna Toscano Roccamo's report, I'd always go back to the office after picking a jury in Ottawa and say, “Why are all my jurors from Orleans? It's unbelievable. What is in the water that produces Orleans jurors?” We now know it's because when you come from the municipal tax assessment rolls, that's where you're going to be overrepresented.
I have used peremptory challenges, and we do it all the time to get more diverse jurors. Is it the best tool? Of course it's not, but right now it's what we have, and Bill C-75 doesn't give us an adequate substitute.