Mr. Chairman, there are protocols and laws that regulate the exchange of information among countries. It's important to understand that when the RCMP do what is considered a national security investigation, it is still a criminal investigation, which we are mandated to carry out, so we do that. There are protocols that govern this exchange of information in terms of caveats and so on, as you've heard.
There were policies, and there are policies, in place that Justice O'Connor recognized as being good policies pre-9/11 and post-9/11, although we have made some changes and tried to improve them and tighten them up. The issue here, and I accept responsibility for it, is that certain of those policies were not followed or were not respected, and some information was exchanged contrary to that policy by members of the investigation team.
On this investigation team, it's important to remember that this was in October 2001, when there was huge pressure and a lot of concern. So there was an attempt to maximize the exchange of information for the benefit of everyone, especially for protecting Canadians. The exchange of information with our friends and allies around the world is critical to the safety and security of Canadians, but it must always be done within the rules and the policies that exist.