Diversity and Inclusion  Mr. Speaker, I welcome the Leader of the Opposition recognizing the divisive rhetoric and the division that is occurring in Canadian society right now. We have a problem with hatred. We have to address that problem. We know that the statistics show that hate crimes are on the rise 130% in the last five years.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, in terms of the statistics, they have been mentioned in the discussion about mandatory minimum penalties. An indigenous adult in this country is six times more likely to be incarcerated than that percentage of the population. For an indigenous youth, it is eightfold.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I would say that if the member supports the U.K. commission model, then he should get behind this bill. We are moving away from a model that arrives on my desk to a model that has a commission, which is the first point. The second point is that we are informed by the study that was done by former Justice LaForme and former dean of law, Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, let me start with the fact that it is puzzling that the words “systemic racism” never come out of that member's mouth or come out of any of his other colleagues' mouths. They do not come out when we are talking about mandatory minimum penalties. They certainly do not come out when we are talking about wrongful convictions.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I believe that time allocation is useful if it is used when necessary. In this case, it is necessary. We saw how the Conservatives behaved when the bill was being studied at the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. They filibustered for more than 30 hours.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. If we create a new commission, that commission will have the resources as well as the mandate to look for cases. To do that, the commission could intervene directly with inmate communities in the prisons, such as the Prison for Women in Kingston.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, David Milgaard's case is taught in every law school in this country. It was certainly taught to me in 1995 when I was at U of T's law school. It is taught because the injustice that befell that individual was such a tragedy, that he was wrongfully convicted and served for over 20 years in prison for a crime that he never committed.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I wish I had a better answer to give, but all I can really do is speculate. Of the 29 people who have been found to be victims of wrongful conviction, none are women. In that group of 29 people, there are six racialized individuals. It is really incredible that this does not strike the Conservative Party as odd.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I respect the member and his work on the justice committee. I do not respect the interpretation he has just put on the floor of the House. What the bill talks about is that rights of appeal must be exhausted. Appealing to a court of appeal per existing case law or appealing all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada would not be necessary.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, we are using time allocation because the members of the official opposition have openly indicated that they have zero interest in proceeding with the bill. The Conservatives' most recent effort has been to propose report stage amendments that would completely gut the legislation.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I respect that member's background in the law. I respect his role as prosecutor. I would remind him that, when he was a prosecuting Crown, his duty was not to secure convictions. His duty was to the court and to the advancement of the law. He rightfully points out that a wrongful conviction serves no one in this country, in this chamber or in the courts where he used to prosecute in British Columbia.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I can talk about one improvement that I already mentioned when another member asked me a question. In some exceptional circumstances, it is necessary to provide a victim of a miscarriage of justice with an opportunity to apply for a review of their file even if the decision was not appealed.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I wish I had an answer. The only thing I can do is speculate that somehow, for some reason, there is a partisan interest in ensuring that wrongfully convicted men and women continue to remain in prison in this country. That, to me, is a shocking proposition, and I desperately hope that I am incorrect in that regard.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's question, even though it is not related to the bill we are discussing at this time. For the record, the previous government appointed 65 judges a year. I, on the other hand, appointed 113 judges in 10 months. That means I am doing my job twice as quickly as the previous government.

Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard's Law)  Mr. Speaker, I will attempt to address that with a measure of credulity, but I find it troubling that the member filibustered this very bill for 30 hours at committee and then proposed report stage amendments that would entirely gut the bill. With respect to my discussions with the former minister, David Lametti, we talked about the importance of the bill.