Thank you very much for your comments. It has been a long road, hasn't it?
The report had 11 recommendations, and this bill was derived from that report. In fact, the Canadian Juries Commission was born from that report. We took it upon ourselves because there was limited action on some of the other recommendations. We took it upon ourselves to advocate directly with the provinces.
Certainly, we know that there's a responsibility at the federal level to provide resources to the provinces to assist them in such things as raising jury pay. Raising jury pay is the best catalyst to improving diversity and representation on juries in this country. If we're talking about systemic racism within the justice system and identifying barriers, simply raising jury pay will almost overnight allow people who were otherwise shut out of the justice system the ability to afford to serve on a jury.
Even the recommendation made all those years ago at $120 per day is now actually out of date because of rising inflation and the cost of living. That figure now should probably be $150 a day. I think jury duty should be talked about in the meeting of the premiers. I think there's a responsibility to bring that discussion forward, because it is the last mandatory civic duty left in our country. There is nothing else. It's the only civic responsibility we have left.