Thanks, Chair.
Thanks to our witnesses for being with us here today.
Mr. Dion, thank you for coming to the committee to talk about a report that was done a number of years ago.
I have some questions for you on subsection 49(1) of the act, which talks about suspending your investigation. I'm sure you're familiar with it, but just for those who aren't, it's about when you need to suspend an investigation. It reads, “the Commissioner believes on reasonable grounds that the public office holder or former public office holder has committed an offence under an Act of Parliament”. There's more to it, but I'll leave it at that.
When you testified in 2022 about whether or not you would hesitate to turn something over to the RCMP, you responded that, “It is a mandatory provision, so it's not a choice that the commissioner has. The commissioner has an obligation to refer it to the police force that has jurisdiction”. You must always be mindful of that in your investigation.
I'm wondering if you could talk a bit about this report and whether you referred it to the RCMP. I guess that's the first question.