Justice committee  Yes, sir.

Justice committee  I don't know how to answer that.

Justice committee  I understand the question. I wouldn't have the experience to answer that except to give my personal opinion. The reasons for jurors to be excused today are already extensive. They do encompass prior health conditions or mental health. There are several reasons to be excused. I

Justice committee  No, there are no statistics available. I am aware that in certain courthouses there have been complaints about having to go to work before the jury trial, and then coming in and doing the trial, and then going to work. It is similar to what your previous witnesses testified, but

Justice committee  Mr. Fraser, I would like to add on behalf of Alberta Justice that you may be referring to the situation of having 14 jurors initially, and two get dismissed prior to the end of the trial. Yes, they would still be part of the program.

Justice committee  In Alberta our jurors are compensated by a daily fee of $50, and their meals are reimbursed. Breakfast is $9.20, lunch is $11.60, and supper is $20.75. Mileage is at a rate of $0.505 per kilometre and parking is $12.75 per day, unless they have a receipt that's more. Babysitting

Justice committee  That has not been discussed yet. What Ms. Newcombe and I had discussed was that in rural areas the counsellor will go to them. Could you address that, please, Ms. Newcombe?

Justice committee  It definitely is an issue. In fact, the jurors can require to be excused because of financial hardship. Prior to the selection, we do have lots of applications to be excused because of financial hardship.

Justice committee  I don't have permission on behalf of Alberta Justice to address that, but I can tell you that Justice Hughes' report does recommend an increase. Her recommendation was from $50 to at least $80.

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

Justice committee  Yes, it could be an issue. So far the Province of Alberta has not been made aware of any altercations. They certainly could go through security at the same time, so there's the possibility. In the larger centres of Calgary and Edmonton, there's not so much possibility of parking

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