Thank you again for your report.
Before I call on my colleagues, I want to reference not only your report but also its conclusion, in which you say that you:
do not see any way forward without some form of sustained independent and external pressure. There are measures that may be taken to address specific issues, but I am not confident that this will correct the fundamental problems in the RCMP. In my view, the time has come to ask some hard questions about the structure and governance of federal policing in Canada. The past has demonstrated that change cannot come from within the RCMP. There must be a rigorous review of the RCMP followed by changes that will ensure that federal policing is delivered efficiently in a manner compliant with the Charter value of equality and with the Government of Canada’s commitment to gender equality, including in the workplace.
You may or may not know, Justice Bastarache, that this committee has been conducting a study on racism in policing. It does echo uncannily some of the testimony that we have heard. I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues now, but from the chair's standpoint, this is a core question. We have had report after report; we've had the commissioner here multiple times; we've had the minister here multiple times—in fact we've had several ministers here—and you are really calling into question whether this can actually be fixed.
I'm not going to ask you to respond to that, but that, from the chair's standpoint, is the core question that needs to be asked.
With that, Mr. Motz, you have six minutes, followed by Madame Damoff, Madame Michaud and Mr. Harris, for six minutes each.
Mr. Motz, go ahead, please.