Thank you very much, Minister.
And thank you, Mr. Rafferty.
I would just like to ask one quick question; I think I had permission from our parliamentary secretary on that.
I want to thank you first of all for moving with Bill C-51.
Mr. Norlock is getting ready to ask a question. Mr. Norlock is the only member on this committee who was on the committee in 2008 when the committee issued the report on the review of the witness protection program. So some of the changes that are happening in this bill are straight out of the good hard work of Mr. Norlock and the committee back then.
I would ask one question, and I thank you for clarifying on the street gangs. I think the word that was missing a bit was “youth”—youth street gangs. You clarified that. The definition of “person” that falls under this is “any person”. Anyone can fall into the witness protection plan.
One of the criteria in the witness protection program, when you consider whether they would be available, is the likelihood of the witnesses being able to adjust to the program, having regard to the witnesses' maturity. I don't know if the deputy commissioner would.... Is there difficulty for young people to prove the maturity they would need in such a program? That was one question.
I wonder if, Minister, you would have any examples as to a rate of recidivism? Are you aware of any recidivism of prior offenders who may be in the program?
These are two questions that came out of Mr. Norlock's committee report.