Public Safety Committee on March 21st, 2013

[Commr Bob Paulson]

I'd be happy to answer it.

I understood the question to be are there increases—

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

No.

Is the Canadian government spending any money on these American initiatives, to help the Americans with these initiatives?

[Commr Bob Paulson]

No. We're not spending money to help the Americans with their initiatives. We're spending money to help Canadians work with the Americans on similar initiatives, in terms of technology and patrols and integrated efforts in patrolling and inland investigations. So, we are.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'll go back to you, Mr. Head, quickly. We may have a minute or so. What are your personal thoughts on the correctional investigator report?

[Don Head]

The correctional investigator always brings forward some issues for us to review. We don't necessarily always agree with the specific direction or recommendations that his office proposes. We do have the same common goal, which is to ensure we're delivering the most effective correctional services in the country.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Were there any particular recommendations that really stuck out in your mind as being ones that need to be dealt with very quickly by your organization?

[Don Head]

The underlying theme in the report is for us to continue to address the needs of aboriginal offenders in a way that the law intended. That is, to provide for those who chose—not all aboriginal offenders choose—to follow an aboriginal-specific path, for us to provide the opportunities within the budget that's available to us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much, Mr. Rafferty.

For the last question, we will go back to the government side.

Ms. Bergen, go ahead please.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I want to go back to Mr. Coulombe. I wanted to ask him another question—and we didn't quite have time—about international terrorism. I was fortunate to have attended a seminar in Washington a couple of weeks ago dealing specifically with international threats—certainly cybersecurity—and how it all relates.

I'm wondering if you could talk a bit about the issue of terrorists raising money. When I was at this conference, Canada really is leading the way in terms of the legislation we passed, listing groups as terrorist organizations, and then crippling them from trying to raise money or, as I've heard, laundering money. It's not just raising money; it's the laundering that they are very, very good at.

If you could talk a bit about it, I think this committee would be interested to hear that.

[Michel Coulombe]

Money, like we say in French,

is the sinews of war.

Obviously, it is a crucial issue, and it is one that we're working on in partnership, be it with the RCMP or FINTRAC, for example, or international partners within the service. Because of the importance of this, we have a unit that looks at terrorism financing.

You're right. I think Canada has taken a lead on this. We're contributing. But at the same time, we have to realize that it is an issue. There's money flowing from Canada to support some of those organizations. It is at the top of what we can do as a service, again, in partnership, to try to stop that support coming from Canada.

In terms of terrorism, the one thing I would maybe like to add is that every time we talk about the terrorist threat, the first thing that comes to mind—and I did it in my previous response—is to talk about al-Qaeda and the al-Qaeda ideology. People have to realize that this is not the only terrorist threat we're facing. There are other organizations, like Hezbollah, for example, that are real and that also constitute a threat to the safety of Canadians.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

I know that was talked about as well...and, again, the listing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, is an important part of fighting it.

Thank you very much for that.

In relation, not as much to radicalization, but to youth gang violence, one of the things our government has done is to make the funding to combat youth gang violence permanent. It was actually created under our government.

Mr. Guimont, could you talk a bit about that funding? One of the things I think is so good is that it goes to a lot of projects across the country. It's not just one big program; it actually funds a number...I mean, in the hundreds. Can you talk about how many projects are funded under our youth gang prevention funding?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

It will have to be very quick, Mr. Guimont. We are coming to the close of the meeting.

[François Guimont]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll be brief with the reasons.

First, I'll confirm that in the mains this youth gang funding is maintained. I just want to make that point, which echoes what you're saying.

With respect to projects, these are good projects. They are within the safer communities initiative or are known as our national crime prevention strategy. I don't have the number of projects, but I will file full disclosure with the committee on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank all department heads for being here today, for your presentations and for answering the questions.

In the course of answering some of these questions, as time goes on you may consider that you should have answered them a little differently. We've had a request already for at least one of the reports, and now there is another presentation that you may want to send to our committee. I can tell you that when you send these reports we will circulate them and they will be part of the record. We would very much appreciate receiving those reports.

Again, thank you, for being here. Our time is up and we are going to adjourn.

Next Tuesday, we will come back. We will be going clause-by-clause on legislation and we will also have committee business.

The meeting is adjourned.