Mr. Speaker, my colleague is a former RCMP officer. My colleague sitting beside me is an RCMP officer. We have 13 active and off-duty police officers in our caucus. Clearly the work police officers do across this country is stellar, and to put the blame for this issue on police officers is a travesty and avoids the real issue.
Police officers put their lives on the line every day. Anyone who has lived in a northern community, for example, or in a first nation community or reserve will know that there are very specific challenges. We recognize the challenge for individuals like RCMP officers, police, who choose to go there, to serve, to get involved in the community and to care about these people. We thank police for the work they do.
The RCMP accountability act is something for which police themselves are asking. It would strengthen their processes whereby they could deal with different issues within the force. It would give them more confidence. It would create a better culture. It would even make them better police than they are right now, and we appreciate so much the work they do.
We are very proud of our police force. This is not their fault, and putting blame on one specific organization certainly misses out on what this issue is. Again, there are so many facets to it, but giving women on reserve the ability to be strong and to empower them is one part of helping this issue.