Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for inviting me here today. I am accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Barbara George, who is responsible for training at the RCMP. After a brief statement, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Meanwhile, I want to focus my opening remarks on the RCMP's commitment to work with the Canadian Border Services Agency in providing top-quality firearm training for maximum long-term benefit for the RCMP or, ultimately, for the Canada Border Services Agency.
Following the Government of Canada’s May 2006 federal budget, in which funding to arm CBSA officers was announced, CBSA requested RCMP assistance in the development and implementation of a national arming initiative.
The RCMP agreed to provide that service. Indeed, in response to the aggressive timelines, we are already working with our CBSA partners to move forward on the first stage of the training program, such as the selection and training of CBSA trainers, also known as the “train the trainer” program. I'll speak to that in a moment.
The training MOU we've signed with CBSA is a two-year commitment that will be re-evaluated on an ongoing basis.
Currently we have seconded two senior RCMP members to CBSA to assist on the training project. Also, we are working with CBSA to develop a national arming policy and the RCMP will provide additional secondments or temporary assignments of specialized members to CBSA for training purposes as resources and other circumstances permit. The salary and O and M relating to the secondment training delivery costs are being absorbed by CBSA.
As well, the RCMP and CBSA are in the early stages of developing a new training syllabus to incorporate the user-level firearm training, defensive tactics, and tactical intervention strategies into the CBSA cadet basic training.
As I've already mentioned, one of the key components of the firearm training is the concept of training the trainer. We are providing assistance in the selection of CBSA officers who will be trained in firearm proficiency and teaching techniques so that they will become the trainers themselves. These future CBSA trainers are being selected from a pool of candidates whose applications have been validated through a CBSA-authored process. This is intended to allow CBSA to develop and deliver its own training program for long-term self-sufficiency. Preparing CBSA in this way is essential for not only that organization but for the RCMP, which does not have the capacity to train all of CBSA's 4,800 officers.
Simply put, as more CBSA personnel are trained to carry a firearm, the demands on the agency will increase because of ongoing obligations such as requalification and re-certification. Faced with this situation, the RCMP would not be able to maintain the training project without the train-the-trainer concept.
Furthermore, it is critical that Canadian law enforcement officers, whether regular police officers or CBSA peace officers, receive a level of training that allows them to safely and proficiently handle their firearm. This is key for public safety and the safety of CBSA employees and officers from other agencies who often work together on the investigations and other situations.
As you might expect with the aggressive timelines, the target date for the RCMP to begin training CBSA trainers is March 2007. The intent is to conduct two train-the-trainer courses back to back, in order to have approximately 30 CBSA trainers trained by the end of June of this year.
By March 2008, less than a year later, it is expected that 300 CBSA officers will have received the three-week duty firearm training course from the CBSA instructors. Although the CBSA trainers will be responsible for rolling out the user-level firearm training, the RCMP will continue to monitor and assist the rollout over the next two years.
As noted, along with the ability to carry a firearm comes increased responsibility, and this is particularly true when it comes to potentially violent situations. One of the key ways the RCMP trains members on handling such situations is our incident management intervention model. This model teaches appropriate responses to levels of resistance based on individual perception. The preference is always weighted towards the least intrusive intervention to control the threat and to ensure the safety of the public and the police.
There is no question that the RCMP has earned an international reputation for policing excellence that results in a large number of requests from other law enforcement agencies and government departments for specific types of training. More specifically, we are a leading expert in training in the use of weapons. We provide basic firearm and instructor-level training, for example, to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and we welcome this latest opportunity to support our confreres from CBSA.
Although the RCMP has been providing training to CBSA in controlled defensive tactics for a number of years, we see the addition of the firearms training as simply adding another component to this partnership.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, the RCMP and CBSA have a great working relationship which will continue through the firearm training program.
We are committed to our partnership with CBSA and other law enforcement agencies to secure the border and ensure its integrity. We and our partners are also interested in high standards of training to ensure both public and officer safety.
I would like to thank you for your time, and now I would be pleased to answer your questions.