Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to make a brief comment on the last seven Conservative amendments.
Having the drafters draft this up backwards and forwards is a significant cost to the taxpayers. If the Conservatives were presenting seven amendments they had no intention of moving, I think that's unfortunate. Conservatives are the first to talk about waste, and this was waste. It was a waste of time.
As I mentioned earlier, the fact that our witnesses have been waiting for a month now is also indicative of a strategy I simply do not understand.
That being said, I want to thank our witnesses for being here, going through the last month and being available now for questions. I'm sure my colleagues will have questions.
I want to move NDP-1. It ensures that the commission would include representatives from indigenous, Black, racialized and northern communities. This is in line, Mr. Chair, as you know, with recommendation 3 on page 4 of “Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada”, a report that provides the inspiration for this amendment. The reality is, the government response to that report also indicated that it is in the interest of the public to have a commission that includes representatives from groups that tend to be marginalized by the justice system and, often, by our institutions. They're often overrepresented, as well, in the incarceration system.
Therefore, what NDP-1 attempts to do is ensure that this diversity is present at every level of the commission. Hopefully, the commission will operate much more effectively than the existing structures that are in place.
I'm sure my colleagues will have questions.
On behalf of the NDP, I move that amendment.