Mr. Speaker, it is difficult for me to do that. I only know of the one time that it was delayed. I will have to work in reverse because there was so much going on in between. I was caught off guard that it had lasted so long. I thought it would have been over.
The last time we all thought we were going to court was on the day of sentencing. The families drove in from Saskatchewan. While we were sitting in the courtroom, the judged looked at the guidelines for sentencing only after the conviction had already been made. As he was going down the guidelines he noticed there was one little sentence that had been added in, not by this House but by order in council I presume or however some things get added in to the Criminal Code, “that before sentencing we must consider whether the person is aboriginal or not”.
The judge looked at it and said he was not sure what it meant so he was adjourning court for the day. He scheduled it for five days later so he could investigate what that particular sentence was supposed to mean. Those are the kinds of things that get implemented into the Criminal Code that do not really make sense.
We had a drunk driver who killed four people. Pray tell, what difference would the person's nationality make? The circumstances in that person's life were all brought out through the 18 months in court. Neither his race nor his nationality were discussed until the last day when it was to be suspended. I think the judge was honestly surprised that it was even in there and he had to find out what it meant.
The family drove back to Saskatchewan. Five days later they had to come back again for the final sentencing which, I might add, was a big disappointment to the victims. They thought it should have been a lot more severe than it was.
That is the only incident that I can definitely say happened. I do not really know about the other times.