Thank you, Mr. Mendicino.
This is not an expensive program. It costs about $1 million a year, so it's not a program that involves a huge amount of public funds, but it is a very useful program for groups and organizations that feel themselves to be vulnerable to hate crimes. Sadly, we have seen in recent weeks and months some very painful examples of that.
We've had some pretty brutal graffiti, vulgar in nature and quite crude in its dissemination of white supremacist symbols, in my own city of Regina. Here in Ottawa, four places of worship were subjected to this kind of attack. We've seen it in Toronto. We've seen it in Peterborough, and in other places across the country.
Groups and organizations that feel themselves to be vulnerable have, over the last number of weeks and months, made the point that the security infrastructure program, while useful, could be made more useful without costing a lot more money by changing the terms and conditions of the program, so we have broadened the eligibility requirements.
One of the previous rules was that you had to have suffered an attack in the past in order to qualify for the funding. The funding is available for gates, fences, security film on windows, closed-circuit television, cameras, lights, those sorts of things that contribute to public security. As I said, in order to be eligible for it in the past, you had to have had an attack which is kind of like prevention after the fact.
We've changed that. Obviously, if you have had an attack, you're still eligible. Now, however, if you can demonstrate your vulnerability in advance by objective evidence that shows you may be vulnerable to this kind of danger, you can submit that argument to the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and the officials will make an assessment. You can actually, as a part of your application, get an external opinion about the vulnerability. That's one important change.
Another change is to make the security infrastructure expenses applicable to the inside of a building, and not just the outside of a building. Previously, it was just the outside perimeter. Now it can include infrastructure changes within the building.
Another thing we're doing is making sure that communities that may feel vulnerable are well informed about the program. We're involved in a communications effort to reach out to groups and organizations, to let them know that the program is available and that they're eligible to apply if they think it would be appropriate and necessary.