Hon. David Lametti, P.C., M.P., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: Thank you, senator. Sometimes appearances don’t reflect the reality of the situation. Filling that position was a priority. For reasons of privacy, sometimes things happen that get in the way. That office remained open throughout the whole time. The office was being run by an acting director. We now have an ombudsperson for that role, and the person we have selected is very good. But I can say with complete honesty that we did our best to fill that position from day one. Now it’s filled, and we’ll continue to move forward.

I would also point out that no government has invested as much in victims — and supporting victims — as we have. No government has invested as much political capital in supporting victims, in changing laws, in better training judges, in supporting organizations that support victims and in doing something like Bill C-5. Bill C-5 will help victims because it will declog the criminal justice system from cases that have caused rulings to be thrown out because of the Jordan case.

Over a third of the Charter challenges in our criminal justice system are challenging mandatory minimum penalties — many of which are the ones we have cited in this act that are clogging up the criminal justice system. So who will be primarily helped by making the criminal justice system more effective and efficient? Victims.