Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Abitibi—Témiscamingue for her speech.
She spoke about access to justice for many people in Canada who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.
I want to underscore and ask for the member's comment on the changes that were made at committee that addressed this very important issue.
Something that was raised with us was the issue of when we are changing summary conviction offences and moving them to two years less a day in terms of the penalty, what does that mean in terms of those people who are either unrepresented or are represented by law students, paralegals or agents?
At committee, there has been an important change, which has been supported, that would allow the provinces and territories to change to 802.1 of the Criminal Code. That allows the provinces and territories to permit agents to appear on summary conviction offences that are punishable by more than six months of imprisonment.
Is that the kind of change the member is encouraged to see, because it would address the very access to justice issues she raised in her speech?