Mr. Speaker, today is Missing Children Day.
This special day is an opportunity to educate Canadians about what they can do to protect their children from becoming the victims of crime.
It is also an opportunity for all Canadians to recognize the outstanding work of law enforcement agencies and other partners in finding missing children.
Under our missing children's program, the RCMP's missing children's registry in partnership with Revenue Canada's international project return, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has helped to search for, locate and return missing children.
In 1997 alone customs and immigration assisted in the safe recovery of 111 children at the border, a 28% increase from 1996. A key element of this government's public safety mandate—