Thank you for that. I think it's an important point to remember when we're considering this that there are not only costs but savings from removing the mandatory minimums. We might get better outcomes for a cheaper price when it comes to the court system.
I want to switch and ask a question on a concern I have about increased discretion for the police in this bill in the absence of serious reform with regard to systemic racism in the police. I know the justice department is not responsible for that, but there are two provisions in the bill around which I'm concerned that in the absence of reform, there aren't safeguards to prevent systemic racism from continuing to operate.
The first of those is allowing police additional powers of discretion at the initial level of contact. My concern, as we've seen with too many police forces, is that discretion will benefit upper-middle-class white people who come in contact with the police, and not racialized and indigenous Canadians. The second has to do with record-keeping. Bill C-5 says that the police may keep records. Again, my concern in the absence of police reform is that those records will be kept on indigenous and racialized Canadians and will not be kept on others who come in contact with the police.
I wonder if the department has any comment on my concern about police discretion and record-keeping discretion in the absence of that serious police reform.