Hon. Pierre J. Dalphond: Honourable senators, I will speak briefly to register my entire support for Bill C-40.

This has been in the making for over 20 years. During those 20 years, other miscarriages of justice have happened. It is time to put an end to them and provide a way for people who are the victims of miscarriages of justice to have access to a more open, assisting and fruitful exercise than the current system.

I say that because I wish to tell you about something that happened in a courthouse in Montreal less than a month ago. It is about a gentleman named Claude Paquin. Mr. Paquin was charged with a double murder based upon the testimony of a paid informer. Paid informers are part of our system, but they are one of the less reliable parts of the system, as I can tell you.

Mr. Paquin was convicted of murder.

One month ago, he was in the courtroom. He walked to the courtroom with his cane.

Claude Paquin went to the courthouse. The 81-year-old had been wrongfully convicted of a double homicide in 1983 and spent four decades in prison. He left the courthouse a free man on Wednesday, November 6. Here’s what Claude Paquin said to the judge:

I am no longer in hell. I have total freedom. That’s what I’ve wanted for 41 years. I served a lot of time. I lost my freedom for 41 years. Now I have my freedom. I’ll try to live the best life I can for the time I have left.

Under the new system, it won’t take 41 years to correct mistakes. That’s why I invite you to make sure that what happened to people like Claude Paquin, David Milgaard, Simon Marshall, Guy Paul Morin, Michel Dumont and Daniel Jolivet, the man I told you about in my speech last October, never happens to anyone else.

The time has come to pass this bill, and I urge you to do so as quickly as possible so it can receive Royal Assent. Thank you.