Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
It's a pleasure to be here with you today to discuss the security preparations for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Today with me are Assistant Commissioner Pat McDonell of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson of Canada Command, representing the core security partners in planning for the 2010 Winter Games.
We in fact represent only a fraction of the thousands of people involved in ensuring a safe and secure games. I hesitate to attempt to name all of the departments and agencies providing games security, but it's no exaggeration to say that we could have lined up dozens of representatives from the federal, provincial, municipal, and private sector fields for you today. However, you have the three of us. Our intent is to provide you with an overview of the games security architecture and how each of our organizations and some of the others fit into that structure.
To begin with the games themselves, tomorrow marks the beginning of the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history, with over 45,000 kilometres to be covered from beginning to end. The Olympics themselves take place from February 12 to 28, 2010, and the Paralympics take place from March 12 to 21, 2010, though the security effort in fact covers a longer period, starting in January.
The RCMP, as I think you all know, is the overall lead for security. However, early on in the planning for the games it was recognized that horizontal issues need to be identified and addressed. My position, in an office with a small number of staff, was established in October 2007 with the mandate of overseeing a whole-of-government approach to security preparations for the games. The reality is that means it's been our task to coordinate, enable, and in some cases test the assumptions underlying the security preparations for the games. Our goal is to ensure funding, planning, and operational measures are both linked and risk-based.
Additionally, my office has put in place an exercise program to confirm the readiness of the security partners in advance of the games. The security coordination covers key federal departments and agencies, other levels of government, and international partners.
At the federal level I chair a group of deputy ministers whose departments have security related mandates. This body's goal is to provide the federal Government with integrated advice on Games security. This ability for senior level interdepartmental exchange of information and strategic assessment will allow timely and appropriate responses to significant events that may occur.
We will not be operating in a vacuum—there will be support from departments and agencies operating within their established mandates, as well as an inter-departmental committee at the assistant deputy minister level. Ali told, we will be prepared to provide ministers or individual departments with the advice or information they require to address critical situations. And of course we have our established links with the province of British Columbia that will be used during any emergency.
The world will be looking to Canada to host a safe and secure event for athletes, spectators, and international visitors during the upcoming winter games. While no one wants to contemplate some of the threats one can imagine to the games, any failure on our part in anticipating, preventing, and mitigating those threats and their consequences would have severe repercussions for the people in Vancouver and Whistler, or potentially elsewhere in Canada.
Next week, in Exercise Gold, we will be confirming our readiness to respond to various situations that may arise during the games. While it is impossible to predict every scenario that may challenge us in the future, we can develop habits of mind and strengthen our processes and relationships to the point that we can immediately move to resolve potential crises.
As to where we are, implementation of the security plans for the games is on track to give us the elements needed for effective game security. Without question, an added benefit of game security preparations is the creation of lasting connections, at all levels, among those involved. In fact it is those plans and valued partnerships between organizations that I believe will form a lasting security legacy from these games.
The security partners are focused on their responsibilities and we have comprehensive security plans for the 2010 Winter Games. At the same time our plans take into consideration the fact that the Games are sporting events and not security events.
No one wants anyone to come away from the Games with memories of the security that surrounds them—instead those memories should be of coming together to celebrate athletic competition in a safe and secure environment—that will be the measure of our success.
With that, I will now turn to Assistant Commissioner McDonell who will speak to the RCMP's role in Games security, to be followed by Vice-Admiral Donaldson who will address the role of the Canadian Forces