Good morning, and thank you, committee, for the opportunity to speak.
I will be brief. I'm sure you have some questions.
I'll restrict my remarks mostly to policing, which is my sphere of responsibility.
Just for the interest of the committee and to provide background, I hold two roles. I'm Assistant Deputy Minister of policing and security in British Columbia, but I'm also the director of police services for British Columbia. Within those responsibilities under the statute, it's my responsibility to superintend policing in British Columbia and ensure adequate and effective policing across the province, and I do this on behalf of the minister.
As you know, we are policed under contract in British Columbia. Our provincial police force is the RCMP under contract. We are the largest contract division in the country. As a result, approximately one-third of the RCMP are stationed in British Columbia. So we are, by definition, fully integrated with federal policing through the RCMP.
British Columbia does support a robust witness protection program. We see this as an effective tool for the protection of witnesses, and it's paramount for us in the fight against organized crime. You need only refer to events in British Columbia over recent years and some of the challenges we've had with on-street gang violence to see how important that is to British Columbians.
Based on our analysis, the amendments in Bill C-51 appear responsive to the specific needs of law enforcement in British Columbia and to the issues raised by our partners and stakeholders, including the broadening of the disclosure prohibition to include information on the program's methods for providing protection, extension of the emergency period beyond 90 days, and a process for voluntary termination.
We also support the adjustments to administrative processes under the federal program that will broaden the scope for who may be considered for protection. The proposed processes will better reflect the changing clientele of witnesses we have, including those associated with the increased prevalence of youth gang violence that now poses somewhat of a significant challenge for all of us across the country, I'm sure, but in British Columbia in particular in those agencies under municipal responsibility.
As the committee may know, British Columbia does not have provincial witness protection legislation. However, under an agreement reached in 2003, all police agencies in B.C. have operated under an integrated RCMP witness protection program. It's referred to as the Integrated Witness Protection Unit. This model has been successful in British Columbia. It integrates municipal witness protection programs into the present RCMP witness protection program. It increases the resources available to the program through secondments of municipal officers into the unit managed by the provincial force under the federal legislation and by the RCMP policy.
Like other jurisdictions, British Columbia has seen witnesses threatened, especially when organized crime is involved. Consequently, our view is that it's an effective and necessary tool that needs to be improved in British Columbia and modernized to ensure that it meets the needs of our very dynamic policing environment.
Within B.C. our anti-organized gang strategies are the responsibility of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. British Columbia funds that unit exclusively, but it's also integrated with federal policing resources. CFSEU-BC is specifically mandated to target, investigate, prosecute, disrupt, and dismantle gangs and individuals who pose a high risk to public safety. CFSEU-BC has informed us that the proposed changes to the act, especially the protections afforded in emergency situations, will be beneficial to their investigations.
Many CFSEU-BC witnesses are extremely difficult to handle, by nature of their violent and criminal behaviour. Providing the commissioner with an additional 90 days in cases of an emergency provides more appropriate timeframes that will tend to improve the management of these key witnesses, often in very dynamic investigations. Often, as you may know, witnesses involved in organized crime, after cooperating with investigators, will go underground as it were and become difficult to locate for further interviews and for the purposes of supporting the prosecution. CFSEU informs us that they believe the proposed amendments will support improvements to the re-engagement of such witnesses.
From the perspective of the Province of British Columbia, providing modern protective measures, while challenging, is especially challenging with gang-affiliated youth, and that will require some different handling with respect to the program. We also think that the changes the RCMP will be implementing around procedures with respect to psychologists and other professional services will support a more integrated program in British Columbia and take into account the needs of the protectee.
We also will be interested to watch the organizational changes that will take place within the RCMP, once, and assuming, the bill is passed. I would add parenthetically that under the new provincial police service agreements that we have with the federal government to provide RCMP contract services, the provinces that contract have a much more involved oversight with respect to RCMP programs. We'll be looking very carefully to make sure not only that the program meets provincial policing priorities but also that it is integrated well with national priorities. We'll be working closely with the RCMP to make sure that works.
Finally, I'd add that we're pleased to see there's a certain amount of flexibility so we can design our program to meet the needs of British Columbians but still leverage the national efficiencies and effectiveness of the national program.
Those are my comments. Thank you.