Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd also like to thank all the witnesses for being here. I think that every Canadian watching today's meeting will find the subject matter very interesting and realize that we may be able to pinpoint weaknesses in the regime we are studying today.
My first question is for Mr. Therrien.
I'd like to thank you and your team, Mr. Therrien, for the work you're doing.
You said, in your opening statement, that your office had identified certain problems. I have your opening statement here, but unfortunately, it's the English version.
You identified that you are concerned about the level of information that is “retained” by FINTRAC.
Furthermore, Ms. Tomson, of PSPC, talked about the importance of forensic accounting in detecting money laundering and terrorist financing activities. A review of the data requires access to information that has been collected over a fairly long period of time. If something arises, PSPC has to go back over old documents or previous findings showing that nothing was problematic and no money laundering had occurred. When new information becomes available, however, the data needs to be reviewed once again.
With that in mind, do you think it's a good idea for FINTRAC to destroy the information as soon as it determines that the activities of such and such a person or corporation were not suspicious?