Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Superintendent and gentlemen, I recall when the bill was first proposed by a colleague of mine in the very early 1990s, Mr. Tom Wappel. Unfortunately, he isn't here to be able to offer his reflections on just how well the system is working, to the extent to which it respects some of the concerns of the day.
As I read through the notes, Superintendent, it seems to me that if we are going to have any questions or judgments about the workability of the program today, we would take into consideration at least some of the following: number one, have we protected and do we continue to protect the new identity of both the individual and all of his dependants, i.e., his family? Excuse me for using the masculine here. I have used the singular, but I think most of the offenders, as I understand it, who enter into the program are masculine. That's the first thing.
Second, we must not undermine public security, police enforcement, and the integrity of the act or any acts in criminal law.
When I look at those and I see what the commissioner may do with respect to disclosing information, it would be a test. I guess somebody has to make an initial decision. In the event that the commissioner makes a decision that would, in the view of others, offend one of those two principles, then we have a serious problem. It would undermine all of the intentions and the work of parliamentarians that went into establishing this program.
I know that at the time--and I stand to be corrected--part of the debate focused around perhaps having an in camera meeting with members of Parliament sworn to secrecy in order to address some of the potential breaches on one side or the other, but I guess because we must always be above suspicion, as Caesar's wife was, the concern was more about the way that the government authorities, in this case the RCMP or maybe a local jurisdiction, would handle this.
Do you have any observations in that regard about going into a closed environment with people sworn to secrecy to address some of the issues that have been raised today and potential breaches of the program?