Information & Ethics committee  I'll answer that not wearing my law clerk's hat and just talk about the constitutional law principles and the committee's authority to send for papers and records and to act as the grand inquest of the nation. You have the ability to seek information, to sit in camera and to put in place mechanisms to protect the confidentiality of information that you request for your studies.

Information & Ethics committee  I think that is referencing a different unit of the RCMP, not the program that is using the ODIT. I think that's the distinction—

Information & Ethics committee  My colleague can correct me, but I think they were talking about the Special “I” program, in place since 1975, as opposed to the CAIT program, which was—

Information & Ethics committee  I think it's appropriate to see how the use of these tools by police forces like the RCMP compares with their use by the private sector. That gives rise to other questions.

Information & Ethics committee  A stronger regime is needed when it comes to the requirement to prepare PIAs. That is the basis for my recommendation. After reading the articles, I realize how important it is to be able to tell Canadians that privacy impact assessments are being carried out and that privacy authorities will be consulted.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm going to wait until I've seen the presentation on the tools in question before I give an opinion on that.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm referring to the RCMP's presentation in August. That's when I'll get the information on these tools.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, that's right.

Information & Ethics committee  We are going to examine the issue internally to determine whether we are going to make recommendations or take steps to address the issue in the private sector.

Information & Ethics committee  My recommendations on—

Information & Ethics committee  We had an investigation on cell site simulators. We looked at the RCMP's use of those tools.

Information & Ethics committee  In that investigation, we found that when it was authorized by a judicial warrant, it was compliant with privacy legislation. There were instances where we had not received sufficient evidence to indicate that it was judicially authorized or that there were exigent circumstances.

Information & Ethics committee  We said in our investigation that, in certain instances, they did not have warrants. I believe their position was that these were exigent circumstances, and we didn't have information from them on that.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure if Dr. Smolynec can answer this one more specifically.

Information & Ethics committee  I think what it shows is that judicial authorization is very important when law enforcement authorities are using these types of tools to intercept private communication and personal information, so that's essential. In that investigation, we found that, in certain circumstances where there was no such authorization, we wanted to see information about exigent circumstances, so that is something we look at—