Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I would like to move NDP-2.
What we're trying to do here is not create new powers for the commission with this amendment, but take advantage of the expertise the commission will inevitably acquire by doing its work. This amendment would allow the commission to make recommendations to address any systemic issues it sees arising in the cases it looks at.
What would be better placed in our legal system than this commission to identify those systemic problems? The government has certainly made a commitment, and the NDP has made a commitment, to try to address systemic racism and the systemic discrimination against indigenous people in our legal system. It would seem to me to be foolish to pass up the opportunity to get advice from this commission.
I want to stress again that it's not creating a power. The commission is not allowed to do anything new here, other than offer the benefit of its experience to the rest of the legal system and to Parliament in the future.
That's my reason for moving this motion. I think it probably should have been there from the beginning. Maybe it was inadvertently overlooked. Certainly, the whole process we're going through here is to try to address and prevent future miscarriages of justice, not just to correct individual cases.
Thank you.