Justice committee  I will start. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and honourable members. Thank you for the opportunity to present this afternoon on behalf of Alberta Justice. As a bit of background, I have been employed with Alberta Justice for 35 years. I have been part of the process of summonsing j

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, I'd like to respond to Mr. Liepert.

Justice committee  There are statistics regarding the cost. In the contract that was negotiated, the hourly cost was $140 an hour. In your next session, Claude Bourque will be appearing on behalf of Morneau Shepell, and he will have more statistics on the actual dollars.

Justice committee  It's a totally contracted-out initiative. The only other costs are not related to the program but are in regard to the juror expenses and fees. That's part of our legislation.

Justice committee  Correct.

Justice committee  Dora, do you have a response?

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, I'd like to address Mr. McKinnon. In Alberta, as you have heard from some of your witnesses in previous meetings, they are not given any notification prior to the trial as to what they are about to encounter, other than a handout with their jury summons that talks abo

Justice committee  As you heard from your previous witnesses, the deliberations or even what happens in that jury room is just as hard on them as the evidence itself is, and I think that is why Justice Hughes recommended offering counselling mid-trial because of what happens in that room, which non

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, I'd like to address Mr. MacGregor. I was contacted by Ontario first. The second contact was Saskatchewan. The third contact was Yukon. I was told British Columbia was reaching out, but I have not been contacted by British Columbia yet.

Justice committee  As I said, I have listened to a couple of your committee meetings. All of those comments were very accurate. I was making notes as they were speaking. Their recommendations regarding what they would like to see included in the program are very accurate as well. Just because Alb

Justice committee  Some of the reports have indicated that there's a great deal of inertia in the system and a resistance to change. If it's worked for hundreds of years, the thinking goes, why should we alter it? However, there has been an increase in awareness and sensitivities, and we know a lot

Justice committee  Can you hear me okay now?

Justice committee  The judiciary would be the ones most aware of the evidence and how it's impacting them. After watching the jurors throughout the trial, as one of my justices from Lethbridge said, where appropriate they will go into the deliberation room at the end to speak to the jurors and remi

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to answer Mr. Fraser. Yes, they are correct. They are ushered out of the courtroom and into their jury room, they pick up their backpacks, and they go home. What we have been doing in certain jurisdictions is have a clerk to kind of oversee the jur