There's still a lot of work left to do to fix the province's jury roll system.
Following Frank Iacobucci's report on First Nations representation on juries, a review implementation committee is now travelling Ontario to meet with the public. Co-chair Alvin Fiddler said it's been disturbing to hear about entire communities being left out of the system. First Nations people need an opportunity to be a part of the justice system.
"We need to fix that," he said Thursday afternoon at the Victoria Inn as the committee held its second meeting. "They don't trust the system. They don't feel a part of it."
Irwin Glasberg, also a co-chair, said the committee has also heard from people who were given jury notices but ignored them.
"There needs to be more done to help increase awareness," he said.
The committee met with nearly 20 people, most from First Nations communities, in order to discuss recommendations from Iacobucci's report and get feedback.
"It's about building a stronger relationship between our Ministry (of the Attorney General) and First Nation communities," Glasberg said.
Fiddler said the committee wants to move as quickly as possible in order to implement the recommendations but the meetings will take at least a year. That's because they want to meet with everyone they can.
"It's my hope that we go to at least one or two of our fly-in communities," he said.
The jury system needs to work for everyone in Ontario he added.
