When it comes to members’ statements, I generally wait for the spirit to move me about what I’m going to talk about. Yesterday, I was in estimates and the Attorney General was speaking about bail vetters and intensive bail supervision, and it had me thinking about being a crown attorney, being a crown prosecutor. To be honest, it made me feel rather sad and maudlin.

When I was a crown, I viewed it very much as almost a calling, an honour. I thought we haven’t had a shout-out for crown attorneys in this chamber recently. When it comes to the legal profession and the profession of being a crown, there really is nobody else that deserves it to the extent that crown attorneys do.

I’ve described crowns as being the first responders of the legal world. When we talk about fire, police or paramedics, there’s a lot of conversation about the trauma they see—PTSD—but the crowns don’t get that. Crowns have to see terrible images. They have to deal with human suffering every single day. They deal with it in a very personal and direct fashion. They are some of the hardest-working people I know.

It’s a job that never ends, I say. With doctors, at least nobody expects you to operate at home on your kitchen table at 2 o’clock in the morning. But with crowns, they do. Increasingly, in today’s justice system, we’re the ones who are having to explain to people why justice doesn’t look the way they thought, why being a victim doesn’t feel the way they thought, and the pressure that puts on us is incredible.

So I want to thank all of the crown prosecutors out there who are doing an incredible job.