Thank you, Chair.
Hello, everyone. It's good to see all of your faces again.
I will be supporting Mr. Fergus's amendment. I'll address Mr. Fortin's concerns first.
I did a quick search of the word “systemic” in witness testimony. The word “systemic” is used multiple times by witnesses who appeared before our committee when this bill was being studied in the first session. I think it's widely understood that this country does have a systemic problem when it comes to discrimination and racism. It's not a term I have problems understanding, and I am sitting here as a white male. I think it's broadly understood and important to have there.
Second, to Mr. Moore's points, I would also draw his attention to witness testimony from the first session. There were a number of witnesses who did in fact tell our committee that the fact that social context was not defined was problematic. We could go through a laundry list of what social context means, but I think Mr. Fergus has done it correctly by using the terms “systemic racism” and “systemic discrimination”. Those two terms are broad enough to encompass a lot of the discrimination factors that people of colour and people of different sexual identities face on an everyday basis. We would be kidding ourselves if we thought those weren't tied up to sexual assault and the problems that many women and many people of different backgrounds face on a daily basis with our justice system.
On the two objections that have been raised, I would say they are in fact addressed by witness testimony that this committee has already heard, which I think is broadly supportive of the amendments put forward by Mr. Fergus.