Public Safety Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2018

[Scott Reid]

That's good to know. It would serve in certain places. I accept there are some extraordinarily cold situations when the RCMP would want to be the responders, up north in particular.

On page 7 you draw attention to cost-sharing issues: “These services are provided through Police Services Agreements, which see the costs for RCMP services shared by the provincial or municipal government, and the federal government”. The cost of $1,700 per defibrillator assumes that the government assumes the entire cost, zero dollars being paid for.

This is a comment, not a question. My interpretation is that $1,700 per unit is a maximum cost. If we could get the provinces or municipalities to share in that cost, it would go down. I would not want us to misunderstand the fact that we have shared jurisdiction that keeps us from being able to do this.

Similarly, I think I'm right in saying, although you can correct me if I'm wrong, that the fact we have police services agreements with other jurisdictions.... Am I right? I don't think anything in any of those agreements prohibits us from putting defibrillators into RCMP cruisers right now.

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

Nothing precludes this.

[Scott Reid]

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for your co-operation. Those were somewhat aggressive questions, not directed at you but simply at anything that stands in the way of getting on with saving these lives.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Reid. You should have been here last week for aggressive questions.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Ruby Sahota, Brampton North, Lib.]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In your introduction, Superintendent, you said something about training. You said that RCMP officers renew their CPR course every three years.

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

That is correct.

[Ruby Sahota]

We heard from the Ottawa police that they do it every year. Is there a reason that the choice has been made to do it every three years? What are the pros and cons of doing it every year versus every three years?

[Bruce Christianson]

I can answer that question.

The requirement of every three years for us is governed under the Canada Labour Code. That's the minimum requirement for federal jurisdictions to recertify in CPR and first aid. As our previous witnesses mentioned, if you get it yearly, you're more proficient in that skill. If we were to look at increasing that requirement with our internal policies, we'd be getting our members trained. The standard first aid is two days, so we'd be getting them off the streets for two more days every year.

[Ruby Sahota]

Superintendent, you were saying that in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario you do not tend to be first on the scene for most incidents in which cardiac arrests occur. Other first responders would be responding in those situations, such as the local police, firefighters and ambulance workers. If we were to eliminate those provinces from the number of cruisers that would have to be equipped, how many cruisers would you say you have throughout the rest of Canada?

Is that a number you could get to us? I know you might not know that off the top of your head.

[Nathalie Guilbault]

The number we presented is for the marked police vehicles. Those are the first responders. It's already excluding the other vehicles.

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

The vehicles that are marked in Quebec are more or less in the area of Lacolle, dealing with the border issues. That's why there are marked vehicles. In Milton they don't do first response.

[Ruby Sahota]

It wouldn't hurt them to have them as well, if we are going to equip them.

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

I believe they have six vehicles equipped there right now.

[Ruby Sahota]

They do. I know you said, although I can't remember whether somebody had asked for that information already, that you knew the cost of AEDs purchased for the G7 but you didn't know how many were purchased at that time.

Could you find out from your department how many you currently have on hand?

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

Yes.

[Ruby Sahota]

If the number is quite high then we might not we looking at the $8.5-million figure.

Are there any other public education pieces that the RCMP does in the provinces and territories across Canada? Are there times when you go into schools to do any kind of safety training, or drug awareness programs, or anything in the range of CPR or anything like that? Are there any programs that you do?

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

Yes, we do, but not specific to AEDs.

[Ruby Sahota]

It's not specific to AEDs, but you do other programming and courses with young children.

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

Yes.

[Ruby Sahota]

We had heard in the previous panel that 13 was the age that training can start for a CPR course, but most people have to go out of their way to enrol in a CPR course. I'm sure there are some really good parents who are enrolling their kids in these courses. Would you see value and do you think it would be cost prohibitive to maybe extend the training that's done by the RCMP to include training in schools to 13-year-olds as a part of your outreach?

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

I don't think we would be the appropriate officials or representatives to take on that role.

[Ruby Sahota]

For the AEDs that are present in arenas and other places, where are they typically located and how could people easily identify where they are and how to get to them?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Please be very brief.

[Supt Jamie Solesme]

I'm not an expert in the placement of them or in any of the procedures or protocols for the placement of those.