Thank you, Madam Deputy Minister.
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to begin by outlining the minister's responsibilities for policing and law enforcement and how my branch supports him in this regard.
The Minister of Public Safety exercises a statutory leadership role in policing and law enforcement matters. This role involves policy coordination with portfolio partners such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency and consultation with the major national police associations and provincial, territorial, municipal, and international law enforcement partners on issues of common concern.
Under section 5 of the RCMP Act, the RCMP Commissioner has the control and management of the force under the direction of the minister. The minister may issue directives with respect to the RCMP's various roles and responsibilities. The minister may also facilitate the sharing of information where authorized to promote public safety objectives. This includes the development of specific initiatives or, more globally across government, public safety and security interoperability.
The Policing, Law Enforcement and Interoperability Branch provides strategic advice to the Minister to help him assume his leadership role with respect to RCMP policing services, and his broader responsibilities in the area of law enforcement and interoperability.
The sector is comprised of myself, the ADM, three directors general, nine directors and approximately 112 full-time employees.
The sector's three branches carry out the following responsibilities.
Law Enforcement Services Policy provides strategic advice on a range of RCMP related issues, including international policing services and peacekeeping, security at major events in Canada and the international protection of witnesses. The Branch is also responsible for firearms policies.
The Law Enforcement and Border Strategies Branch provides strategic advice on a broad range of law enforcement issues, including organized crime, illegal drugs, economic crime and genetic data analysis, as well as on border security issues, ranging from the presence of armed agents at the border to cross-border crime.
The Public Safety Interoperability Branch is involved in various information and interoperability exchange initiatives. Employees are often called upon to act as project managers with a view to advancing the federal government's capacity to exchange information of a sensitive nature.
For the current 2006-2007 fiscal year, the sector's operating budget totals $31 million.
I would now like to discuss the sector's role within the portfolio.
Within the portfolio, our branch is most closely linked to the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency. However, many of our policy areas, such as certain aspects of border security, organized crime, and drugs, also have implications for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Correctional Service of Canada.
On our role within the law enforcement community, while the Minister of Public Safety has line responsibility for the RCMP, he also plays a national leadership role in regard to policing and law enforcement in Canada generally, with over 61,000 sworn police personnel in Canada. This is no small task. I'd like to be clear that the national leadership role does not mean that the minister or the department exercise line control over police or policing policy for any police force in Canada.
There have been a number of challenges within the policing community over the past few years. These challenges point to the need for a national approach that effectively builds on the intelligence and investigative capacity of the law enforcement community. To give you a few examples, some of the challenges include changing demographics, the globalization of crime, new and more complex criminal trends, and the focus on accountability.
I'll now move to some of the major programs and initiatives of our branch.
To further illustrate my sector's roles and responsibilities as well as our approach to working with other portfolio components and the broader public security sector, I'd like to talk to you about our main programs and initiatives.
My sector plays a key policy role in the area of contractual law enforcement services. The RCMP provides services to provincial and municipal police forces in eight provinces, three territories and some 200 municipalities under cost-sharing agreements. We work on a regular basis with the RCMP and with provincial and territorial officials to ensure the efficient administration of these agreements.
With the help of our US counterparts, we head up the Canada-United States Cross-Border Crime Forum, which focusses on components of the Smart Border Declaration related to law enforcement and national security. This Forum brings together senior Canadian and US officials in a quest to devise solutions to common cross-border problems.
Internationally, my branch plays a significant role in the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission.
You'll be aware that some Canadian cities have seen an escalation in firearms violence in recent years. Firearms violence, with its numerous causes and connections to gangs and drugs, requires an integrated multi-faceted response.
We act as the lead on a pilot project to advance the ability of the federal government departments to share classified information.
I've given you a brief overview of what we've done. I've tried to be brief, and I've really only scratched the surface, but I apologize for taking all of this time.