The work continued after we were formed as it had done before. Our prosecutors continued to prosecute cases in an efficient and professional manner after the establishment of our organization, as they had done before when they were members of the Public Prosecution Service. From our perspective, what has changed—and this, as I mentioned in my opening, is something I can see from having met with many of the prosecutors in visits to their offices—is a sense that they have an organization, for example in Quebec and Nova Scotia, that is focused on the prosecution arm of the criminal justice system; that in effect values the contribution they make on a daily basis to the criminal justice system; and that, as I mentioned as well, makes more transparent the principle of independence.
As for individual successes, that would require talking about some of the contributions our staff have made to the criminal justice system across Canada, and we've set these out a bit in our annual report. If there's any contribution I'd like to mention, I guess it is the contribution.... I don't want to offend any members who aren't mentioned by this, but I've always been impressed by the dedication of those prosecutors who work in the northern territories. For example, in Nunavut they service 25 communities scattered over two million square kilometres, and they do so by going on circuits. They can go away from the family for a week or two. Sometimes they are snowed in because of bad weather conditions. It's not an easy life; it's a very hard life for them. And they're dealing with a different culture. We try to give them training to deal with that. They usually try to meet with the local justice community to explain the system to them and obtain the local community's views on what is happening.
I would like to signal the contribution these prosecutors have made. It's a tremendous contribution they make to bringing justice to the northern part of Canada, where unfortunately the crime rate is a bit higher than elsewhere. They have to work under very difficult conditions.