Madam Chair, the issue of public inquiries is important, and what we realize is that when we're dealing with classified information, it becomes very difficult. It has been possible in other reviews to have sessions that haven't dealt with classified information and to shine the light of day on those. That's what we intend to do with the public hearings regarding the reforms in our system that are most important.
When Justice O'Connor finished the Arar inquiry, his comment was that public inquiries under the Inquiries Act are very difficult tools to use for something whose job is to shed light on situations, particularly situations of negligent responsibility and so on. Because they are led by lawyers with cross-examination, they have difficultly getting at information that is classified. We can't do that in public. They are very expensive and very time-consuming and often do not result in providing that light.
What we had hoped to do, of course, in the many months of our mandate, was exactly that—to have public hearings on matters that are not part of the classified information. I think we may recall an earlier inquiry. It was the McDonald commission that led to the creation of the CSIS Act to take over from the RCMP responsibilities regarding foreign interference. That commission took five years to complete its work.