This amendment comes from the testimony of someone who—I know him personally—has an amazing legal mind, Professor Kent Roach, who looked at the situation and said in his own evidence:
...I spent a lot of time this summer looking at all of the jurisprudence from the courts of appeal and the Supreme Court on jury selection. Frankly, judges are somewhat conservative on these issues. My worry is that, as the amendment is now written—which, as you noted, simply adds “maintain confidence in the administration of justice”—it doesn't guide the exercise of judicial discretion. Different judges will exercise the discretion differently.
Just as we saw with the sentencing provisions, and as we see in other parts of Bill C-75 relating to bail, it behooves Parliament to give judges a signal that we are concerned about the overrepresentation of indigenous and other groups in our criminal justice system.
That is why it is highlighted here, to ensure that the judiciary in applying Bill C-75 has strong consideration of the fair representation of our aboriginal people and other vulnerable populations overrepresented in our criminal justice system.