Public Safety committee  The reality is that in a situation like that, my responsibilities as director for the province come into play to ensure that there's an effective response. Whether that means we leverage provincial resources or we work with the RCMP to leverage federal resources, the reality is that we find a solution that's in the best interest of British Columbians and protecting public safety.

Public Safety committee  I can't speak for the rest of the country. I can tell you that in British Columbia we certainly are going to make sure that the investigation is properly resourced and supported, and we provide funding and support to municipalities through the CFSEU on all sorts of major investigations that happen within their jurisdictions, many of which have made the news recently.

Public Safety committee  The integrated witness protection program is situated within our RCMP division. It touches, as I understand it, federal and provincial and municipal policing responsibilities. I believe you had Assistant Commissioner Shean here, who would have more in-depth knowledge of the program.

Public Safety committee  I'm not aware of whether the composition includes anyone from first nations policing, but it would supply support to first nations policing services. We administer first nations police, so it would support that.

Public Safety committee  Thank you. I can't speak to whether they have accessed it in the past or not, but there is nothing structurally that would prevent a matter arising under our first nations policing responsibility from obtaining the services of the witness protection program. The first nations policing program in British Columbia is delivered mostly through a series of tripartite agreements, as you may know, and there's a funding arrangement with the federal government.

Public Safety committee  I'm probably not qualified to speak to the operational aspects of day-to-day witness management. In fact, I don't have that level of knowledge. However, I will say that in British Columbia, especially on files involving agents, our prosecution service is very much involved in decisions that affect the prosecution and the course of the prosecution.

Public Safety committee  You, and I'm sure other witnesses, have identified an important part. Canada at large, but British Columbia, in particular, is a very diverse society, especially in the Lower Mainland, where we are dealing with some specific gang challenges. We are talking about groups who may come from diverse communities.

Public Safety committee  As you know, the program is administered by the RCMP on our behalf in the province. I apologize, but I certainly don't have that level of understanding of what level of training the particular officers in this unit get. However, we have very clearly set as one of the priorities for our provincial police force in British Columbia to ensure that they are constantly assessing their need to be responsive to the diverse communities they police.

Public Safety committee  We certainly felt that we were appropriately consulted, yes. Do I feel that we were satisfactorily and fully consulted on this bill? Yes, we were.

Public Safety committee  I think I would answer that and go back to the comments I made with respect to our increasing hours within the province of British Columbia and the increasing recognition of the need for standardized processes in policing, at least in this province. Whether it is dealing with investigative techniques, such as an undercover operation into major crime, or whether it's dealing with the use of appropriate electronic surveillance in a major crime, we are doing these under integrated systems in British Columbia that include federal, provincial, and local policing responsibilities.

Public Safety committee  Yes. We were consulted through Public Safety Canada quite extensively...[Technical difficulty--Editor]

Public Safety committee  I can neither confirm nor deny for you that there would be any potential costs in a given investigation, in terms of witness management. Certainly, we have no analysis that tells us there will be, as a result of implementing this bill, immediate costs to municipalities—clearly not.

Public Safety committee  No, it's generally under what we call a provincial business line, so under our provincial policing budget. We do have mechanisms and are working on mechanisms to have a more granular look at how those funds are spent. There are various mechanisms for us to look behind the billing of these files.

Public Safety committee  No, we haven't done that analysis, but we would certainly, as we move forward in adjusting our program....I think I heard Professor Dandurand speak a little bit about performance measures, I think they were. I'm sorry, but I couldn't quite hear all of his remarks. We very much want to get a better understanding of how well any program is operating, and how effectively and efficiently it's running, and how economically it's running.

Public Safety committee  Thank you. We've just completed a nine-month consultation and public engagement process where we went to British Columbians and asked them about policing generally. We've also, as I've mentioned, recently had the report of Mr. Oppal from the missing women's inquiry. I can tell you that the question of the sustainability and the cost of policing is foremost on many municipalities' minds.