Justice committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, and members.

Justice committee  We can never give a guarantee, but one guarantee is that we are doing our darndest on a number of fronts. That was so upsetting to everybody. You can rest assured that we are conscious of this daily, and we'll do our very best.

Justice committee  Respectfully, we have concerns as it applies to judicial independence. Of course, in the Canadian way, we would like to have a compromise, and the compromise would be less mandatory language and still achieve the spirit of the legislation.

Justice committee  That's an excellent question, and in line with earlier discussion. Justice Kent is abundantly aware of this because she does it every day. We have to make a clear distinction between advocates and educators. We can't hear from advocates on either side because that just wouldn't be our role as it applies to being independent, but we need education.

Justice committee  That is an excellent question. We live in a constitutional democracy, not a parliamentary democracy. A constitutional democracy dictates that your laws, as all of you know, have to be constitutional, and a constitutional imperative is that the judiciary has to be independent and cannot be subjected, especially, to government.

Justice committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity, Madam Chair, to answer that question.

Justice committee  I'll answer you in English, if you don't mind.

Justice committee  Thank you very much for identifying the issues as we have highlighted them, and for raising the issue of our provincial and territorial court colleagues, because we want to work with those involved, everyone involved, including the National Judicial Institute, the provincial court chiefs, the Federal Court chiefs, and of course the Minister of Justice and the Department of Justice, to make this laudable goal a reality not just for federally appointed judges, who hear only a small percentage of sexual assault cases, but for all Canadian judges.

Justice committee  Well, exactly. Thank you. I believe all honourable members have the document. Thank you, Mr. Maloney, for highlighting the preamble where it refers to “the importance of an independent judiciary”. We would add, “that is free from improper influence”. We would humbly and respectfully suggest that the “Whereas” that identifies the “problematic interpretations of the law may arise”, is a negative thing in the preamble.

Justice committee  I wonder if we could hand out the handout. I will stay within my time, Madam Chair. I can answer that question a lot better with it. In the meantime I can start by getting right to what the concern would be. The concern is that in 20 years from now, if the government of the day were to direct judges to learn about the myth of residential schools, or something else that was just not properly spirited, you would want the judiciary to stand bravely, courageously, and say, “You can't tell us what we have to learn.

Justice committee  Absolutely.

Justice committee  That's right.

Justice committee  Confidence in the judiciary, like confidence in all our institutions, is fundamental. It's hugely important. To answer your question, I believe this bill will go a long way—I too am concerned about the stark statistics about under-reporting—toward giving confidence to the public but also to the victims of sexual assault.

Justice committee  Madam Chair, would I have a few minutes?

Justice committee  Thank you.