Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
I am going to be directing my questions to Mr. Brandon Rolle of the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute.
For the benefit of my colleagues, I had a chance to meet Mr. Rolle when I served in the provincial legislature, and I am familiar with a number of the initiatives that have been undertaken in Nova Scotia to combat the systemic racism that Nova Scotians experience. It's well documented in our system, so I'm really grateful you're here with us to share your experience and expertise with our committee today.
I understand, Mr. Rolle, that you recently met with the justice minister when he was in Nova Scotia, I think a couple of weeks ago. Can you share with the committee whether or not you would have spoken about this bill and what you would have shared with him—and I would direct you to be as blunt as you obviously need to be with us—on the use of mandatory minimums and the restrictions on conditional sentencing orders, which are the two things we're talking about today, and the effect on the features of racism in our justice system, from your expertise and your experience?