In terms of section 34, if people are not part of the public service, we have no power to require them to provide us with documents or testimony in an investigation. However, we ask them if they can co-operate with us by providing documents voluntarily. That is the approach we have taken in order to be able to continue the investigation when evidence lies outside the public sector.
Up until now, that has worked very well. People have co-operated in cases connected to the public service. However, if there is no co-operation, or if, when evidence lies outside the public sector, people do not provide us with the information, we are at a dead end. That has happened to us before.
The act allows us to send the document to police authorities or to a provincial attorney general so that the investigation can continue. At that point, we send the information and the necessary evidence to the new body handling the investigation thereafter, and the investigation continues.
When there is a lack of co-operation on the part of people outside the public service, an obstacle or interruption does not mean that the investigation comes to an end. In fact, if a police force such as the RCMP agrees to continue the investigation, it continues and the person is advised.