Mr. Speaker, I prepared a few notes because in any case, I was going to support the hon. member on this bill as the Bloc Quebecois did when the hon. member for Mercier spoke to this bill. At the time, we agreed with the hon. member's initiative regarding this legislation. I think there was an oversight. Earlier we had comments from the government.
I think these comments are in line with our own support for the hon. member's bill, in other words, I believe that at the present time, we are penalizing people who would be able to perform a duty that is extremely important in our judicial system, and I am referring to jury duty. A person on unemployment insurance was either penalized, in other words, did his jury duty but was not entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits, or the judges, considering this particular situation, rejected such people for jury duty.
However, thanks to the hon. member's amendment, and he is to be commended for making this proposal, the situation will be rectified.
I believe that in previous debates, we stressed the usefulness of jury members in our judicial system, and I should add that the jury system is a provincial matter, in other words, the province has jurisdiction over the administration of justice at this level.
I believe that as legislators, in the House, we have helped accelerate and simplify procedures and assist those responsible for the administration of justice. I think that Bill C-216 is entirely in line with this attempt at simplification and helping people fulfil their jury duties.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention something that happened in the judicial district of Joliette, in connection with the selection of jury members. In a murder case, after seeing about 300 to 400 potential jurors, the lawyers had rejected practically everyone, so that the sheriff finally rented a bus and had the bus stop in various streets in the municipality of Joliette, pick up anyone who looked like they were of age and take them by bus to the court house to be selected as jurors.
My point is that people do not exactly go out of their way to do jury duty, and I think that if we can simplify things and help people, if there are people on unemployment insurance who could do jury duty, I think we should let them, and Bill C-216 is a step in the right direction.