Justice committee  That's right. There is no requirement at this time. There is a requirement for them to be offered time off to be allowed to participate, but employers are not expected or required to compensate jurors for that time.

Justice committee  I can tell you what the compensation is for jurors—

Justice committee  Compensation for jurors is not meant to be compensation for their time and service; it's part of supporting the civic jury process. It is meant to simply assist them in meeting their obligations. Compensation is an important issue for Ontario and—

Justice committee  Individuals are able to request an excusal for very many reasons. One of those could be financial hardship. We do have instances of individuals who have been summoned for jury duty making those concerns known to the court and to the judicial official, then it's up to the judicial official's discretion to excuse the person from jury duty.

Justice committee  Our program offers four initial sessions; then, at the discretion of the counsellor, the counsellor is able to recommend an additional four. That is a total of eight sessions. Beyond that, those cases are dealt with on an individual basis. To date, we have not received any requests for more than eight sessions.

Justice committee  That's all within the sessions. Essentially, the eight sessions can be done in the manner the juror chooses. That means a person can do it by phone. If they want to do another session by email or they want to do another one in person, it is up to that individual to decide.

Justice committee  It's been in place for about a year. Last year there were around 7,000 jurors in the province of Ontario.

Justice committee  We always evaluate the supports that we provide to jurors, and child care and elder care come up for certain individuals, so we have been considering that, but I'm not sure for how long. In the course of simply doing our regular work, we do try to improve and provide as many supports as we can to anyone who needs them.

Justice committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, members, and good afternoon, Chair. On behalf of the Province of Ontario and the assistant deputy attorney general of court services division, Ms. Sheila Bristo, I thank you for inviting me today to this important discussion about supports for jurors.