How much should a juror be paid?

Google News was linking to an article this evening on the Robert Pickton trial and talking about jury selection. There they made a comment about juror pay. To quote:

In British Columbia, jurors are paid on a scale set out in the Jury Act. A juror receives $20 a day for each of the first 10 days of the trial, $60 for the 11th to 49th days and $100 a day for the 50th and each subsequent day of the trial. If the jury sits four days a week for 50 weeks, the pay would be about $17,000.

Compare this to the Canadian poverty line from 2005 - set at about $18000 - $20000 for a household of size one, $33000 - $39000 for a family of four, or $42000 - $49000 for a family of six. No wonder people try to avoid jury duty.

What might be a fair rate of pay for something like this? You don't want to have jurors itching to get out as quickly as possible to avoid financial collapse, but at the same time it shouldn't be too cushy a job or jurors might simply procrastinate in rendering a verdict. Would it make sense to tie juror income to the juror's regular income?

Comments

One also has to remember that, if you are the sole "bread-earner" in the household, you can be exempt from jury duty. Hasn't your dad done that at least once?

I'm not sure if he has or not.