It is. It is our view that racialized accused can use the peremptory challenge to create a more representative jury. We appreciate the position that has been taken on the other side of things, but I do want to mention one thing. This debate, quite rightly, has focused on the overrepresentation of indigenous people in the system and under-representation on juries. However, peremptory challenges have a far more practical application in some cases.
The one anecdote I can think of is the example I had in a recent jury selection, where I had an accused who was facing a charge where the defence was going to be reasonable alternative inference, a fairly complicated instruction for a jury, where you have to explain circumstantial evidence and the difference between speculation and inference. I was concerned that jury members who were not that proficient in English would not be able to understand the instruction that well, and that it may harm the truth-seeking function. Even though I had a racialized accused, I was using the peremptory challenge to pick off some people who showed that they did not have a very strong grasp of the English language, even though they were of the same race as my client, because I expected that they would not be able to understand the instruction to the extent that I would hope they would. These sorts of considerations are sometimes being lost in the analysis.