Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate, Mr. Head, your testimony this morning. We appreciate you coming.
The opposition have come from a different side than I do. I first and foremost want to reiterate the policy of our government, that we believe that victims and the families of victims deserve the best protection. Communities in our country deserve the best protection we can afford.
Numbers that are now old and outdated estimate that the cost of crime in this country exceeds $70 billion. Of that, if you break it down, property crime is at a cost of $40 billion per year. The cost of violent crime—and most of this is actually borne by victims and victims' families--is over $18 billion.
When we're talking about $2 billion, I think we, as parliamentarians, need to remember that we're talking about $70 billion that's being inflicted on victims and victims' families. If we can do a small part, by putting taxpayers' money towards mitigating that damage and the potential for that damage, I think we can do a great thing in that and in protecting our citizens.
In terms of the training that front-line officers have been given, I understand you've gone to great lengths to improve the capacity to address the needs and the specific needs of the inmates. You would know better than most that there's been a significant effort in the last number of years to train front-line service workers to address mental health issues. Could you talk a little more about that and the work that's been done on that front?