Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner, first of all, let me express to you my gratitude for your appearance here today and for offering your perspective on this very important issue of not only national importance but indeed international importance.
You've offered your apology, which speaks to the fact that you do in fact take this issue extremely seriously.
We've covered all sorts of ground here in this meeting, from leaks to timelines, your own personal involvement, the personnel challenges, and training issues that have arisen, whether or not there was political direction in this case, Justice O'Connor's report, his recommendations, the exchange of international information, and the problems that sometimes arise as a result of that.
I also took note that there's been a shift in police culture as a result of September 11, not only in this country but in fact internationally. There has been clarification as well that there is no investigation of the Arar family taking place.
The point I want to focus on is that in fact mistakes were made, and when mistakes are made, hopefully lessons are learned.
Commissioner, you, as an individual who has served this country and indeed the RCMP for over 36 years, would clearly understand that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is an institution in our country. It is an organization that we as Canadians look to. It exercises a very important role in our civil society. What assurances can you, as commissioner, provide the Canadian public, who may in fact be viewing the committee hearings, that these errors will not repeat themselves and that in fact the RCMP can fulfill its responsibilities into the future?