Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, I think it's important to note what today is. It is National Indigenous Peoples Day. Again, I go back to our plenary unit, which does an amazing level of outreach. Ms. Blaney, I can assure you that when our indigenous family members are coming to the precinct to protest or have access, we get out front to make sure it's facilitated and as easy as possible, so there are no barriers.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, if there are complaints from anybody—indigenous family members or others—it's critically important that those complaints come to the office of the director of the service, so they can be dealt with as swiftly as possible.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, I can't deliver a mandate if I'm on a linear path to anything, and I ensure that the response is there to meet the threat when it appears. We're talking about a different realm in terms of a pure threat to Parliament, so it's tough for me to suggest how else I would be able to increment stuff up, when I know what I'm here to protect.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, to Mr. Fergus, yes. I've indicated previously and in my opening remarks that the solution to this is not hardening strategy. It is important in providing a security fabric over the precinct, but that alone is not going to get us to where we need to be. The same can be said for just throwing human and security assets at it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, this is where it's critically important that the service has the partners that it has. We talk about being an intelligence-led organization in order to serve the parliamentary community, and that's not going to change moving forward. The advance notice we receive through intelligence and information that we receive gives us ample time to assess and analyze.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, I'm extremely comfortable and pleased with the discussions that are currently under way with the parliamentary community on finding some other.... It can't be dealt with from a single lane. This is a multi-faceted approach to increasing the security of the precinct and parliamentarians.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, Mr. Fergus, I appreciate the question, but I can't speak on behalf of law enforcement as to what tools they think they would need when dealing with any sort of police matter.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, the only extra nuance, through you, Madam Chair, would be that there was no benefit whatsoever in the invocation of the Emergencies Act for the service. There were no additional powers provided through that, again, simply because we're not a policing organization.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, if I understand your question correctly, Mr. Fergus, obviously the assessment analysis as to what exactly that needs to be is, I think, to come. I'm waiting for some of that work to be completed. Again, one of the authorities that I have is shutting down the precinct when that threat level reaches a threshold that I'm no longer comfortable with.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, obviously it would be Wellington Street and Sparks. We would be looking at down to Kent and then on the west side of the war memorial. There still needs to be an analysis and assessment of the Senate of Canada building.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, I don't enter into those levels of discussion with the Ottawa Police Service. Ultimately, it's not a police decision or—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, my responsibility is to direct the service with what I have in front of me, Mr. McCauley. That's where I am.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, at this point in time I don't have the numbers on that, Mr. McCauley. That would be a requirement of that assessment. We talked about the effective barriers. It's not just about throwing human assets at this to deliver the mandate.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have nothing more, Madam Chair. Thank you.