Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you so much, Minister, for being here, and thanks to your officials as well.
First of all, I want to thank you for the effort in putting this bill together, and I really appreciated your comments with regard to victims or complainants feeling perhaps more comfortable coming forward as a result of some of the steps that are being taken in this bill.
Coming from Nova Scotia, I know there has been certainly a high profile case and incidents there that are on the public's mind that have brought consciousness to this important discussion.
In balancing the rights of the accused and the victims or complainants, I want to turn to a topic that already had some discussion, and that's regarding the records relevant to the complainant that are in the hands of the defence. As I understand it, there will be a possibility of a hearing before the judge in a voir dire setting, where a determination will be made on the admissibility of that evidence by the judge.
I think it's good that the complainant would have the ability to have legal representation at such a hearing. I'm wondering, though, if you could touch on how we balance the rights of the accused to a fair trial with the ability of perhaps giving a heads-up, if you will, to the complainant about what evidence may be tendered on cross-examination, perhaps allowing an accused person an ability to tailor evidence based on what normally would be proffered at trial to cross-examine the witness.