Right now RCMP, police forces, apparently transit forces in B.C., and apparently in some provinces or territories penal authorities have tasers. In the States anybody can get one, as you know, and they're used in situations that I don't think this country would even comprehend.
A lot of our discussion today has been your point of view on people with excited delirium, and I think you have the expertise that many of us wouldn't have in that area. But my concern isn't so much in that area as it is with these tasers being used on people who aren't in excited delirium, people who are just not compliant fast enough with instructions, who are resisting apprehension. We don't have all the facts at this committee concerning what happened in those transit situations where people were tasered in B.C. in the last year for skipping out on fares. But I think there's a difference here regarding when this taser is used: if someone is in the state you're talking about versus someone just not reacting and being submissive fast enough to a direction. There doesn't seem to be a policy guideline that says you only use this taser if there's excited delirium. I'd like you to address whether or not you feel a taser is an appropriate vehicle in a situation other than excited delirium.
While you're doing that, I would add that what really troubles me about the taser is that it's something being used in Canada, and I can't think of any other product that we would put on the market for any use when we didn't have any answers about what the risks were. You wouldn't put a new drug on the market when you didn't have the answers out there. I'd like you to tell me what product you can think of that is comparable for which you don't know the risks and that you would authorize the use of in this country.