Evidence of meeting #4 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:35 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
I don't know. I don't know how many.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON
CPIC is a great tool for law enforcement here, but because it's a Canadian database coordinated with the U.S., it has little impact on a fingerprint check run on someone from Syria or Lebanon.
11:35 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
I get the thrust of your question, sir.
11:35 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
It keeps track of criminal records in Canada, but it also is an option for diffusing information to front-line police officers on things that happen abroad.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Gentlemen, thank you for being here with us today.
In the case of highly emotional debates such as the one on Bill C-51, it is very important to say that despite our political differences, we certainly support the men and women who work in your agencies. I want to echo what Mr. O'Toole said in that regard.
Mr. Paulson, you spoke about the impact of the budget cuts. The reports tabled by the President of the Treasury Board show that the previous government cut $687.9 million a year from the Department of Public Safety, including $195 million from the RCMP and $24.4 million from Mr. Coulombe's agency. I have two questions for you about that.
First, can you talk briefly about the impact of those cuts and expand on the comments you made? Second, what should the current government do in its upcoming budget to meet your agencies' needs?
11:40 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
Clearly, without money, we cannot do our jobs. It takes money to do police work, conduct investigations and do everything we do to serve Canadians.
However, we will never have enough money, because there will always be a threat somewhere and we have to be able to detect it. It is therefore very hard to say how much money we need.
We are looking at our activities and determining what is needed for federal policing, contract policing and specialized services. I am certain that if we can show the government what is needed, we can ask for money accordingly.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Coulombe, have you felt the impact of those cuts? If so, what can be done to improve the situation?
11:40 a.m.
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The $24 million in cuts were imposed as part of the deficit reduction plan, which dates back to 2012, I believe. The service set two objectives: the first was that the cuts would have no impact on its operational activities and the second was that its resources would be kept. CSIS did not want to lay off any employees. It achieved those two objectives. It had to maximize efficiency by reducing travel, for example, through secure teleconferences.
The main estimates were tabled this morning. They include a 6% increase in CSIS's budget. The 2012 cuts did not really have any impact on us.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Thank you.
On another topic, the fight against radicalization here at home was something that we felt wasn't included in Bill C-51, and it should have been. It's something we haven't talked about enough as far as we're concerned, and that applies to the current government as well.
Are you being asked to be involved with some of the work that's being done? Department officials who were here last Thursday were saying that a plan was being worked on. What can you tell us about that, and are you being asked to work with faith communities and local authorities such as Montreal, for example, that have been doing a lot of the heavy lifting on this file?
11:40 a.m.
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
I can answer your question.
At the service we are actively engaged with Public Safety on that program within our mandate. We have a lot of experience. We've done a lot of analysis on factors that lead to radicalization, so we share that information. We exchange with foreign partners to get more knowledge. We are actively working within our mandate with Public Safety on the program.
11:40 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
In respect of, say, the foreign traveller phenomenon, we work with the service and other government agencies to coordinate an operations centre, where we look for opportunities to bring to bear counter-radicalizing resources from communities where these individuals are coming from, including families, including mental health, including addictions, including counselling. We do that now as a matter of practical necessity.
Public Safety Canada is, as I think you've heard, engaged in trying to broaden and deepen the resources and the coordination of that activity, and we're supporting that activity along with our partners.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Great. Fantastic.
At the meeting last Thursday, we talked again about Bill C-51. We understood from what the department officials said that changes were imminent.
Have you been asked to get involved in the review and the changes that the government promised to make to the law? If so, what can you tell us about that?
11:40 a.m.
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Certainly, the service will be involved in the consultation process. You will understand that I will keep my opinions and advice for the minister. The service will be involved in the process, will implement it and will use the tools that come out of the review.
11:40 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
That's well put.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Paulson, I would like to conclude by talking about the murdered and missing indigenous women and girls.
Ms. Bennett made some comments about the RCMP that were very harsh in some respects. That was last week, if I am not mistaken. I do not wish to criticize the work you do, but have you been asked to take part in this whole process and the work that will be done as part of the public inquiry?
11:45 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
Yes.
11:45 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Can you tell us about the role you see the RCMP playing and the work that remains to be done, in your view?
11:45 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
We're always ready to improve our practices. We're always ready to take criticism from anyone.
Why are there so many indigenous women in the cohort of women who are murdered or have gone missing? I don't think the answer to that question lies in our investigations.
11:45 a.m.
Commr Bob Paulson
My point is that we're always ready to improve our practices and our investigative responses and our processes. I can speak to that at length when you want to hear about it, but our study and our work have been designed to bring some data to the issue.
Why are indigenous women overrepresented in the cohort of women and girls who are killed or have gone missing in suspicious circumstances? Frankly, the answer to that question doesn't lie in how we respond to the investigations of those people in those circumstances. I think it's a golden opportunity to understand what can be done to help our indigenous people, and to the extent that we can take criticism on how we can do it better, we're happy to do it.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you, Commissioner.
Ms. Damoff, you'll be a bit shy of seven minutes, just to warn you.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Okay, that's fine.
Thank you both for being here.
My question is similar to questions that were asked earlier.
Many people say the best way to change the culture around sexual harassment in an organization is to have women in leadership positions. In fact, I would probably say it's the best way to change the culture.
I'm wondering if you could let us know what you're doing to promote women to join the RCMP and also to put women into positions of leadership that are not just communications roles. Often in policing you'll see women who are in leadership, but they tend to be in communications positions as opposed to other ones. I'm wondering if you can let us know how many women are in leadership and what you're doing to accomplish that within the RCMP.