Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First I would like to thank the witnesses who are here with us today.
Mr. Grabowsky, from the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, it is a pleasure to listen to you via teleconferencing.
Mr. McCormack, from the Toronto Police Association, it is always a pleasure to have you with us.
If you will, I will address my questions to Mr. Grabowsky mostly.
I found your presentation extremely interesting. You pointed out that Canadian correctional officers lacked certain resources that are in fact necessary for their work. I agree with you. In my riding there are now two federal penitentiaries, Montée Saint-François and the Federal Training Centre. I often have the opportunity to discuss things with correctional officers in the field. The situation you describe today is very similar to the situation in our Laval penitentiaries.
Concerning the employees' safety, I would like to know how many correctional officers accompany inmates when they have escorted temporary absence permissions. Are there one or two?
How do you assess the current level of safety employees have at work? You said that there were certain incidents, at the Drumheller facility in particular. Can you describe the current situation?