Public Safety committee  In the past we've met with the National Crime Prevention Centre and we're very familiar with them. I wasn't familiar with the particular part of the gang issue that they put forward, but absolutely, they do some good work. The discussion we had was a kind of think tank on how we parallel this so that we would better fit the needs of the individual or the taxpayer, so it was a great discussion.

Public Safety committee  That's where it has come from—

Public Safety committee  Mental health is something that I had mentioned as one of the priorities. I think there are some great examples across the country, such as police tagging up with mental health workers in police cars to attend an initial response. Going forward, to make a long story short, this is something that's going to need a comprehensive and collaborative strategy.

Public Safety committee  Go ahead, Tom.

Public Safety committee  I fully agree with you. It has been a long-standing issue with CACP. First nations deliver quality police services at the level set out for them in their mandate. They play a large role in our policing umbrella. They police a lot of those difficult areas. I fully agree that they should be using the same rules, have the same pay rates, and have the same expectations as other police services across the country.

Public Safety committee  I can't say that I've seen that yet. Maybe Tom has more comments in relation to that. I can say that anything that tackles youth gangs collaboratively we'd be supportive of, but I personally haven't had a chance to review it. I apologize.

Public Safety committee  That's a great point. First nations are obviously overrepresented in the issues, but it's not because they're first nations; it's because they're marginalized for the large part. When I came back from our research in Scotland, it was important that we brought first nations leadership right into our model, and they're part of the model.

Public Safety committee  I echo what Tom said. Obviously most jurisdictions in the country have looked at all three of those, including criminal record checks. Obviously some work has to go into that. An interesting one if you really want to look at revenue, if the issue is revenue.... I think you've heard all three of us say that maybe we need to focus within and see how we redirect resources first.

Public Safety committee  That's a big point. When we designed the new model we're looking at, privacy was everything. Honestly, privacy was more of a barrier than it was an enabler. Everybody respects privacy. Everybody has legislation. I think there's a huge piece to enable that to happen. Absolutely, because without that information-sharing, the whole picture of being able to ask what you can do to help is problematic.

Public Safety committee  That's a great comment and an interesting comment. It's the same in northern Saskatchewan, just so you know that. What is the expectation on what you're funding? In northern Saskatchewan, if you're funding the RCMP and you're paying that same type of rate, you might not be seeing a police car, but if something bad happens in your community, you'll see a whole raft of resources show up to solve that problem.

Public Safety committee  That was my comment earlier with regard to arrests and not arrests. We're going to continue to arrest, because quite frankly there are people who need to go to jail, but we don't forget about them, as you've stated. It becomes about balance, and I think that's where the real effort is: we've got that now, we continue to do that, and we make sure the accountability pieces are there, but to really change the system we have to do them both at the same time.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. You can't do one or the other, you need to do both. That's why we call it “smart on community safety”.

Public Safety committee  My answer is that there are always going to be those new things in crime. That's reality. There's going to be always only so much money. I think it's a refocus. The refocus should be on evidence and outcomes, and those things that we do well that make sense to our bottom line we need to continue to do.

Public Safety committee  I believe that's the case. Certainly we can get back to you on it, but I think that's the early evidence in relation to impaired driving. It's the reason that a lot of people have gone to cameras. The impaired driving discussion is an interesting one, though, and it comes up in the economics of policing because it's a problem in our country.

Public Safety committee  I agree with you on the integrated approach. I think the Quebec example is an excellent example, and there are many others across the country. The response boils down to the risk. If we categorize folks as low, medium, and high risk, the response should be in accord. The response in relation to an active street gang shouldn't be the same as for those who we can predict are headed to the street gang.