Public Accounts committee  Yes. We have--

Public Accounts committee  A communiqué went out to all employees of the RCMP when the act was put into force in April, advising all employees that they have three areas to which they can go under the act. Number one is their supervisor; number two is the senior officer; and as well, they can go to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner's office.

Public Accounts committee  The RCMP has had policy on internal disclosure since approximately 2002 with regard to the way we handle internal disclosures for wrongdoing. The law that was brought out was the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, with some obligations for us with regard to the nomination of its chief executive, which we did.

Public Accounts committee  No, sir.

Public Accounts committee  No, they are the commissioner, the deputy commissioners from the regions, the ethics advisor, as well as members from legal services and internal audit.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, let me clarify. I am not directing Mr. Brown's task force. I want to clarify that, please. In terms of receiving staff, I have seven people now in my office. I have someone dealing with the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, who is the lead. I have two people on the outreach initiative at this time.

Public Accounts committee  Well, I have had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Brown, and what I've done is this. As I said to you before, what we need to look at as well is where we need to be. Until just recently, I needed to build capacity. What I need to look at now, based on the issues that Mr. Brown's report will bring out as well as internal issues within the RCMP, things I see that we may have to change, is alternatives.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  That was just our first stop, madam, in many of our areas that we will be researching, and it came to light when we did speak to la Sûreté de Québec and le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal. As a result, those are some of the areas we are further investigating. Thank you.

Public Accounts committee  I firmly believe Commissioner Elliott is up to the job. He has my full support and he has the full support of the senior executive committee.

Public Accounts committee  Madam, I'd like to inform you that we spent two days...Inspector Barb Hayduck, from my office. As I said to you before, we are researching all options to look at a model that could work for us. The last two days of last week were spent with la Sûreté du Québec and le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal exactly examining the systems they have and the roles they play.

Public Accounts committee  One of the roles of the ethics advisor is to also perform that challenge function. That is one of the roles, and it was there when the retired assistant commissioner, John Spice, was there as well. My role is to challenge, to play that challenge function with the commissioner as well as with the senior executive committee.

Public Accounts committee  If I may say so, sir, we are also looking at the different models and structures. This is some of the ongoing work. I realize that I'm repeating myself when I say that this is all ongoing, but as a result of Mr. Brown's report, these are some of the things the organization is looking at.

Public Accounts committee  Well, I think the policies are basically very similar. Really, the person would come to my office and they would make a disclosure. I would work with the SRRs, or in concert with the SRRs. We would bring it up to the level we needed to bring it up to. The difference here is that I have the confidence that the senior executive and the Commissioner of the RCMP are prepared to act on any information that I bring forward.

Public Accounts committee  That is really the difference. With regards to policies, the policies are very clear. But as I said earlier, we are working now with the different offices--the Public Service Integrity Commissioner's office, Treasury Board, professional standards, and all those areas--to look at whether our policy is meeting the needs today.