Very good.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee. Thank you for inviting us here today.
My name is Eric Slinn and I am the director of the Drug and Organized Crime Branches. I am accompanied by Inspector Greg Bowen, the OIC of the witness protection program at NHQ.
Witness protection is recognized internationally as an essential tool in effectively investigating and prosecuting those involved in organized crime and terrorism. Simply put, it is unlikely that persons would agree to put themselves at risk through testifying in court or collaborating with law enforcement in the absence of a mechanism designed to provide them protection.
The Witness Protection Program Act identifies the Commissioner of the RCMP as the administrator of the federal witness protection program. This program is mandated to provide witness protection services to all Canadian law enforcement and, under certain circumstances, to enter into protection agreements with foreign governments and our international criminal courts or tribunals with the concurrence of both the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
As Chief Superintendent Thomas Bucher previously testified before this committee on April 13, 2010, it is important to note that the federal witness protection program is not the only program in Canada. The provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan all have their own provincial programs. The three prairie provinces currently have legislated programs. Ontario and Quebec have policy-based programs. Most urban and provincial policing agencies have witness protection units within their respective organizations.
Having independent programs does not preclude these agencies from utilizing the federal program. If, for example, a particularly challenging case arises, the RCMP may be called upon for assistance and the witness will be given consideration for entry into the federal program. These situations occasionally arise because the provincial or municipal programs were generally created to meet the short-term needs of the witness and are not necessarily designed to accommodate those requiring lifelong protection or change of identity.
I would also add that there is no dedicated federal funding for witness protection in Canada. This includes the federal witness protection program administered by the RCMP. This situation therefore creates challenges for the federal program and for smaller agencies who are investigating serious crimes but do not have sufficient resources to pay for witness protection.
Currently, the RCMP expends between $8 million and $9 million per year on witness protection; however, this number can easily fluctuate, depending upon the number and complexity of the case is presented.
The challenges associated with providing an effective witness protection service are considerable. Criminal organizations have an ever-increasing capacity and networks to locate and intimidate and/or harm witnesses and as a result, witness protection processes continually evolve.
Post 9/11, the expanded use of biometrics and technology has posed additional challenges to witness protection partners.
The Standing House Committee on Public Safety and National Security report on witness protection in 2008, as well as the subsequent 2010 report from the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182, made a number of recommendations intended to improve the federal witness protection program.
These recommendations were all taken into consideration as the RCMP, in concert with representatives of Public Safety, initiated in-depth consultations into the administration of the federal witness protection program with a breadth of partners and other stakeholders at both the federal and provincial levels.
Although the program was generally well supported, these consultations identified a number of areas where program improvements could be made. These areas of change, in concert with changes already contemplated by the RCMP, became the focus of an internal RCMP document, which contained a series of recommendations designed to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the federal witness protection program.
Efforts are currently being undertaken to address two areas of concern. Consideration is being given to amending the Witness Protection Program Act. These proposed amendments are intended to respond to shortcomings identified by provincial partners, with an overall view of making the federal legislation more relevant to provincial needs.
In addition, the RCMP is implementing a number of program changes, with a view to significantly enhance the delivery of the witness protection services. The focus of the planned changes is to ensure that the federal program would become more protectee-focused, provide an enhanced level of security to the public, greater accountability, and introduce a series of other program changes, which will result in a vastly superior program to what currently exists.
I would like to take a moment to briefly discuss a number of the program changes currently being introduced into the federal program. The RCMP is finalizing the development of a risk assessment and management model that will be unique to witness protection. This risk assessment and management model will be applied in all cases where an individual and/or their dependants are considered for inclusion into the program. The model will ensure that all considerations about who may be entered into the federal witness protection program will be based upon a consistent national standard, which will be applied in all cases, prior to anyone being entered into the program.
Further, this process will incorporate the input of specially trained psychologists, who will play a critical role in ensuring that the protectees' needs are addressed and that potential risks to both protectees and the public are identified and addressed at a very early stage.
Witness protection training has been increased substantially. Greater training emphasis is being placed on the identification of the socio-psychological needs of protectees, and this training will be augmented by mandatory annual upgrades and tactical training specific to the witness protection function.
The federal program will also benefit from an expanded use of technology currently being developed and designed to afford witness protection coordinators an enhanced capability to monitor witness protection cases, identify outstanding issues and provide greater levels of accountability and more accurate reporting.
The referred changes will ensure that the FWPP will remain a contemporary and world leading witness protection service meeting the needs of both the Canadian public and the Canadian justice system.
These changes are consistent with those previously discussed by RCMP Chief Superintendent Thomas Bucher and Inspector Greg Bowen when they last appeared before the committee and responded to committee questions about witness protection.
At that time, the RCMP agreed to provide a copy of the planned changes to the federal witness protection program to the committee. The document referred to was provided to Public Safety Canada and to this committee. Your executive service should be able to confirm this. If not, I will confirm this.
At this time, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.