Yes, there are, and what you are referring to is what some people sometimes refer to as low-level, community-wide intimidation. This has not yet received a lot of attention from law enforcement agencies, but they are beginning to try to come to grips with that particular problem. In the case of the Air India incident, clearly this was something that was revealed to be part of the difficulty police had in investigating that particular case. A lot of people were intimidated and worried about coming forward.
A witness protection program, such as the one managed by the RCMP, is an extreme measure, and in most cases these programs do not offer what people need. There are a whole range of measures, as I've said several times. So let me give you some idea.
There is low-level police protection, which is basically making sure that someone will respond to a call if there is a call from a house. There is also police presence in the community. There are even evidentiary measures. Other countries have looked at a number of measures, including delaying disclosure for a period of time. They do not prevent disclosure, but they delay disclosure until a certain time so as to give people an opportunity to take protective measures for the witnesses.
There are a range of things, including some that could be brought to the law. This is really what needs to happen and what we need to put in place, but this cannot be done just at the federal level. It basically has to be done in all communities. Police have to develop trust, work with the communities, develop the relationships, take seriously the information they get about people being threatened by organized crime groups, gangs, or whatever, and take measures. If you talk to people in various police forces, the problem is that they find that these things are very costly. Decisions of deployment and so on are based on different criteria, and this is not an area in which they place a lot of their resources.
I believe that there is a change in public attitudes and in police attitudes and practices. More and more people are understanding. If I can figure that out, and I'm not in law enforcement, I'm sure that some bright people in law enforcement have figured that out as well.
One good method to intervene against organized crime is to develop those relationships and protect people who want to come forward. The programs we have are so limited, when you look across the spectrum in Canada.