Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing here today.
Our concern is that the selection process be both thorough and transparent, as we see this as essential to ensuring the confidence and trust of the public in the RCMP and also to restoring the confidence of the rank and file in the RCMP in their leadership.
My own experience, at the local level, in hiring a chief constable as a member of a police board and also making recommendations for policing in Afghanistan for an international human rights organization, taught me that there needs to be a balance in criteria between management and leadership. The criteria before us are very heavily weighted toward management, so I'd like to ask two questions that I think are important to restoring public confidence in terms of leadership.
The first is a very specific question. Do the witnesses see any downside in adding a criterion very specifically stating that we would like to see an RCMP commissioner with a demonstrated understanding of and commitment to victims' rights?