National Defence Committee on Oct. 29th, 2009

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Looking ahead to the actual games, can you give us some insight into what the security operations will look like on a daily basis, and what the communications among the various agencies involved will look like as well?

[Ward Elcock]

Assistant Commissioner McDonell may want to speak to that in more detail.

Frankly, I think the structure the ISU has in place, and the number of organizations represented there, and the communications through the games coverage and urban domain areas are superb. It's a complicated area, but having said that, I think they've put in place an enormously capable structure.

My expectation is, and I think we said this at the beginning, that while we want to put in place all of the security requirements that would be needed to deal with potential threats of virtually any kind—or certainly any kind we can imagine, and we spent a fair bit of time thinking through all of those things—those security parameters will be there. We will have the tools to deal with whatever happens.

Having said that, it hasn't been our goal to create an oppressive environment with armed soldiers and armed policemen on every single corner just for the sake of their visibility. We hope people will experience the games as an athletic event, not a security event surrounded by soldiers and police. So on a daily basis, I think people will not see enormous numbers of police and security people. Hopefully there will be no events that will require that to happen, but we will have the security tools there if they're required.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

What logistics will be in place to facilitate communication and coordination on a daily basis?

[A/Commr Pat McDonell]

I can define some of our command and control structure.

We'll have commands throughout the field and in various spots throughout it. We have two footprints, one in Whistler and one in Vancouver, because you have the events up in Whistler and down in Vancouver. Those footprints will be covered off. The commands in the field in particular venues will be reporting up to a command in Whistler and a command in Vancouver, and they'll feed into what we call the “Gold Command”, an overall command, which is highly integrated with our partners from the Canadian Forces. Other security partners will also be in that integrated command centre.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you, Mr. Braid.

Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Wilfert.

[Bryon Wilfert, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, gentlemen. I know it's always a daunting task when you're dealing with security in this day and age. I appreciate your efforts.

Back on July 28, when the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security was asked if there was any agreement in place to allow armed U.S. security forces to enter Canada during the Olympics, she wouldn't comment. When politicians don't comment there's obviously a lot of room for interpretation.

It was mentioned that there's a $4.5-million U.S. Olympic operations centre that will have two briefings a day. I assume some kind of strategy will be in place in case a threat so close to the border means that the United States could be called upon. Can you elaborate on that and tell us whether that's the case?

[Ward Elcock]

We have no expectations at this point of any American contribution to the security effort for the games, apart from the ones I talked about earlier in the context of offshore, the border, and so on, where cooperation is ongoing every single day.

[Bryon Wilfert, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

But an expectation and a contingency plan are two different things.

[Ward Elcock]

We have put in place no plans for armed American security to arrive to help us provide security for the games.

[Bryon Wilfert, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I take it you feel that we have adequate resources in place to deal with any security threat, externally or internally.

[Ward Elcock]

We believe we have put in place the tools required to deal with any potential security threats to the games.

[Bryon Wilfert, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Mr. Proulx, you have the floor.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you for participating in our question and answer session.

I would like to ask a brief question. I don't think it causes problems in security terms, but I would like to talk about a problem that is of great concern to us. You knew in recent months that the government had not allocated enough money to provide for perfect bilingualism, wall-to-wall bilingualism, at the Olympics. That concerns me.

There are two points in terms of security. First, in operational terms, both the RCMP and the Canadian Forces will have personnel from Quebec and New Brunswick who are not necessarily completely bilingual.

Second, in terms of working with the public, will you have enough resources so that all Canadians, both English-speaking and French-speaking, can be served and informed properly and so that you can communicate with them properly?

[Ward Elcock]

Assistant Commissioner McDonell may want to add more detail, but large numbers of officers who speak French will be drawn from police forces across the country. In fact, a large portion of the police effort will be drawn from police forces other than the RCMP, and I think one of the largest contingents will be from Quebec.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

That's the Sûreté du Québec?

[Ward Elcock]

Among other services from Quebec, there will be the Sûreté du Québec and the Montreal city police.

Pat, you may want to add to that.

[A/Commr Pat McDonell]

We have 22 police forces from Quebec contributing officers to the security efforts. And then in the central region of Quebec of course most of our members speak French and English, and then from New Brunswick and here in headquarters. So as far as RCMP, I believe we're furnishing as many bilingual officers as we can. With 22 police forces in Quebec providing officers--although you never have enough—we'll have a substantial number of police officers who speak the two official languages of Canada.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Do you think that will be enough?

[A/Commr Pat McDonell]

When we look at major events we always try to do better in placing bilingual officers in the front lines at venues, where they'll interact with the public. The mobilization coordinator in this instance is looking at the language profile of the officers coming in and trying to put them in the front lines in duties where they will meet, greet, and interact with the public.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Thank you, gentlemen.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you, Mr. Proulx.

I will now give the floor to Ms. Gallant.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It's my understanding that Canada and the United States, especially along the border areas, conduct joint exercises both for disaster situations as well as for security, and that the Canada Border Services and the U.S. work cooperatively. Would you please describe some of the joint exercises that occur on a routine basis?

[Ward Elcock]

Mr. Chairman, the admiral or Assistant Commissioner McDonell may want to comment on the ongoing exercises.

The reality is, for the Olympics, this has been a huge exercise program. As we alluded to, there is a central exercise program that we have called, for a lack of a better set of titles, bronze, silver, and gold. Bronze and silver have happened; gold is next week. But there have been literally hundreds of other exercises, across the country in some cases, but mostly focused in Vancouver, as different organizations test out the various parts of what will be required for the security effort. There have been exercises that have involved our American partners. Some of them focused on the border. There have been ones with the military focused on the offshore, NORAD, and so on. There are a whole slew of exercises quite apart from whatever happens on the basis of a day-to-day working relationship at the border or between the military and the U.S. military.

I don't know if either of you want to add to that. It's a huge exercise program. There are literally hundreds of exercises.