We're aware that in the U.K., they have a provision in their statute whereby the commission can make exceptions. It's a very short provision. I don't have it with me, so I can't read from it, but it's that exceptions can be made.
I wanted to point out that currently the Criminal Code does require that appeals be exhausted. When I was here with the minister on October 31, I think I might have explained that the way Bill C-40 sets out the exceptions and the considerations is a codification of the relevant law that explains how it's to be considered and applied. In the past, there was some confusion as to what it could include and could not include, so the approach was to just clarify. That is there in Bill C-40 as a list of considerations for whether exceptions can be made for the Supreme Court level.
I would add one more piece of information for the committee. In subsection 3(a) of the provision we're looking at here, it says:
the court of appeal has not rendered a final judgment on appeal of the finding or verdict;
Those terms are lifted from other parts of the code, and it's for drafting reasons that they were used, but I wanted to share with the committee that in the case law, in a decision called “Alvin”, the courts have clarified that if an applicant on an appeal has requested an extension to a file, has requested an appeal and been denied or has filed for leave to appeal and has been denied, that constitutes a final decision of the court of appeal.
It doesn't mean final judgment, when there was actually an appeal heard and a decision rendered on the merits of the appeal itself. It's just that the person attempted to seek an appeal and was unsuccessful.