Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all our witnesses today.
On the modernization aspect of the bill, I was going to ask a question about one of the recommendations that came from the RCMP's Reform Implementation Council's fourth report. That report highlighted a program, the RCMP reserve program, which uses retired officers to provide backfill capacity and mentor younger members. From my experience in the RCMP, the mentorship program was invaluable. I certainly see that representing the Yukon, where they use a reserve program a fair bit for longer stretches of time to provide necessary relief to a lot of our remote communities.
My understanding right now is that reservists who are hired on short-term contracts have frequent downtime mixed up in that to conform with pension rules. It prohibits the longer-term or progressive use of that reservist program. It seems to me that might be a little cumbersome, having a member on for six months, then giving them some time off, and then getting them back on for another six months. It creates some challenges, particularly in rural and remote Canada, where we are using them for relief, or where you want to continue or extend a mentorship program, and you want to maintain that continuity without a break. Am I reading this right? Is that how that works? Is how that system works a cumbersome obligation for the RCMP right now?