Thank you.
Thanks to the witnesses for coming this morning. As usual we are learning a lot, and we continue to do so. Thank you for that.
Mr. Trudell, I was expecting sort of the same thing: that whatever we're doing in government is wrong, it won't pass the charter test, you're against it, and stay with the status quo. I'm glad you went off into a different area, because it's an area that I think is very important.
I agree with some of the things you mentioned, such as collaboration, the need for police forces to collaborate, the need for the folks in the justice envelope—judges, lawyers, crown attorneys, and police officers—to continue their discussion. I think that's what you mean by collaboration.
You went further and talked about collaboration among all the different levels within the community. Thank you for that, because I think that's the way we get things done--from the ground up, as it were--instead of having the so-called experts come to give us the philosophical reasons why we shouldn't do something. In the end it's the people who live it every day—that's why I believe Mr. Henry is here—who have the best information and sometimes the best solutions.
I wonder, Mr. Trudell, if you and perhaps Mr. Henry would comment on whether these things are happening. I'm almost positive they are. I listen to CFRB, so I know some of the things that are occurring in the Scarborough area. And things are improving, by the way.
Mr. Trudell, picking up on your theme, we very recently had the Minister of Justice come to a round table in Northumberland County on public safety and justice issues. We heard from a mix of all the police departments in the area, the victims groups, the police services board, the community policing committee, and representatives of youth--youth groups. The theme was almost identical right across the board.
You say we need to find out what they're thinking. When it came to proceeds of crime, the local police said we needed the proceeds of crime that occur in our community to come back to the police in that community, perhaps through the municipal government, so they can use them for a broad range of crime prevention programs and victims' assistance groups. So I wonder if you'd comment on whether you think that's appropriate, and whether Mr. Henry thinks that's appropriate.
They also talked about the need for more investment in youth anti-crime and anti-drug strategies. At the same time, they said that for those who are repeat offenders there needs to be more accounting. So we went from restorative justice that is happening in that community, which I think really works.... As we know, it started in New Zealand with the Maori Indians and worked its way up into our justice system. It works very well, in my view. But for the worst of the worst--the people who are captured under Bill C-4--that doesn't deal with first or even second offences. That piece of legislation deals with somebody who's been through the system so many times and continues with serious offences, usually bodily injury offences. So we're not dealing with that group.
When it comes to collaboration, as I left the policing background.... As a result of the Bernardo series of murders, we learned the reason why there was a successful conclusion to the investigation. Police forces were previously operating in silos and weren't sharing information, so the joint force operations that currently occur.... I would suggest, Mr. Trudell, that collaboration is occurring even more and better all the time, even internationally.
So I've hit on an eclectic mix of things. I wonder if you can make some short comments on it, and leave sufficient time for Mr. Henry to discuss how his community deals with the police.
Is there a community policing group there that collaborates with the police to look at these socio-economic as well as social justice...?