First of all, I want to correct any misunderstanding. I think CSIS and the RCMP are doing a relatively good job in most cases and that they're needed, to some extent, within the bounds of law that created those entities. But what Mr. Holland has been reiterating is the oversight.
My organization has been calling for cross-agency national security oversight of all agencies. After 9/11, everything was integrated—sharing information—and you had a toothless complaints commission at the RCMP, SIRC, and others. Bring it all together. If we're going to integrate national security, we need integrated oversight and accountability. The Arar commission pointed out significant mistakes. As human beings we make mistakes, and that's why we need checks and balances. We paid Mr. Arar some money, and I think that was right. We harmed his interests and his liberty. He was tortured because of things that our agencies did.
At the end of the day, we need to look at Arar. Nothing has been done on that. No one who was identified as doing things that gave rise to Mr. Arar's plight have suffered; many of them have even been promoted in the RCMP. I think that's the kind of thing we need to think about.
Let's fix this first. This legislation can't go forward as it is; it needs fixing. I believe Mr. Forcese and others have mentioned things that need to be fixed, but first start with the oversight. Fix the agencies so they work for us, and then see if we need new powers.