Mr. Chairman, in this case, there was a situation that had not previously occurred. Normally, when transactions are conducted with the police department, whether it's the RCMP or Sûreté du Québec, generally, and to our knowledge, those transactions, those communications are done normally. In this case, there was a breakdown—that's absolutely clear—and we unfortunately learned of it when Ms. Aucoin placed her call. That's why there was a hesitation on the respondent's part, because normally—and I note that a tragic situation is obviously never a normal situation—that communication should have been made. We subsequently contacted Sûreté du Québec to try to get a clear understanding of why there had been this breakdown in communication, which led us to examine our procedures to determine whether, before stopping a search activity, we should check to see whether, when a message has been sent or forwarded to a police department, the communication has actually been made.
As Mr. Da Pont explained, the search and rescue activity ends when the rescue function is completed and when it is no longer possible to think that there will in fact be a rescue. So, at that point, the activity is one of searching for a body, and that's when the transfer is done.