Mr. Speaker, the public complaints commission was created by parliament in 1986 to act in the public interest in addressing complaints by the public against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The commission is an independent civilian board. Each year it receives on average 1,000 complaints from Canadians about the RCMP. About 300 of these complaints result annually in independent investigations. The commission has a strong list of members and has carried out its mandate with integrity.
Opposition members of this House have charged that the public complaints commission will not be able to get to the bottom of the issues relating to the APEC summit because its mandate is too narrow.
The terms of reference in this particular hearing show clearly how broad the scope of an inquiry can be. The APEC panel will hear all evidence and will report on “the events that took place during or in conjunction with demonstrations during the APEC conference in Vancouver”.
The chair of the public complaints commission has stated that the panel will follow the evidence where it leads and that the scope of the investigation will be broad.
Any questions regarding the RCMP operations prior to and during the APEC summit are squarely within the scope of this hearing. Continued attacks on the ability of the PCC to investigate properly the APEC summit will undermine the integrity of this body, which I might emphasize has developed a strong reputation over the past 12 years for fairness and thoroughness in its deliberations.
Members should be aware that the government has provided additional funding to assist the commission to hold a very complex hearing in the public interest. This funding will, for example, cover the administrative and witness costs of the APEC hearing. A number of senior federal officials from, for example, the PMO and DFAIT will testify at the hearing.
I also stress that the government has co-operated fully, indeed has gone to great lengths with the commission's council for the release of documents. The government is just as interested as hon. members across the House in seeing a full and complete independent inquiry into security at the APEC summit.