Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The RCMP reserve program itself has been in operation since approximately 2004, and it's been run on a pilot basis for the last few years. It is an incredibly useful tool in terms of backfilling vacancies and being able to provide the seniority that sometimes can be lacking, especially in some of our smaller or more remote areas.
The challenge you speak of, the way the program is administered, has to do with a lack of clarity, if you will, between the way the reservists are appointed and a particular statement under the RCMP Superannuation Act. Reservists are right now hired for a period of three years. However, that three years is broken up into periods of six months less a day, and at the end of six months less a day, a reservist is required to take a two-week cessation period.
The idea of that is to ensure there is no mix-up between being appointed under the RCMP Act and then the RCMP Superannuation Act. The RCMP Superannuation Act says that if a person is appointed under the RCMP Act but is not appointed as a member—and this is an incredibly important point, because reservists aren't appointed as members, they're appointed as reservists—they are appointed as an employee in the public service. It becomes confusing in terms of trying to administer the program. If we have someone who has worked for six months plus one day, does that mean they're no longer a reservist but instead they are now a public service employee?
This lack of clarity has caused issues in terms of the administration of the program. It does impact our ability to deploy for greater than six months. There is also the question, if someone were to work for six months plus a day, of whether that would have an impact on their benefits, for example, pension allotments or entitlements.
There is some clarity required around that particular question.