Mr. Speaker, in response to the hon. member's question I would like to essentially put things in the proper perspective first.
The APEC conference and the security evolving around the APEC conference was one of the largest events in Canadian history. It involved over 3,000 police officers.
As international law dictates, it also involved Canada having a responsibility to protect the 18 heads of state who were attending the conference.
To that end, there were clearly defined zones for the demonstrators to freely demonstrate in public view of the 18 heads of state who were attending.
There were numerous complaints received since that incident and those complaints have been addressed directly to the Public Complaints Commission.
The Public Complaints Commission, as we know, is an independent administrative tribunal. It also has civilian members on it. They have the power to review all the complaints. They have the power to even conduct investigations and hold hearings. We look forward to those hearings.
On December 3, the Chair, Shirley Heafey, began the investigation into the RCMP's actions. On February 20, 1998, she also indicated that there would be a public interest hearing, which the member is calling for.
The hearings will start on April 14, 1998. We have every confidence that the Public Complaints Commission will do its job, that it will investigate everything it feels is necessary to investigate. We await the report.
In view of that report and the investigation that is ongoing, I would like to limit my comments at this stage.