Status of Women committee  That certainly helped. People who go to depot receive a $500 allowance per week, and that has helped us increase our numbers, because let's say a mother of three wants to go to depot. Having no income would make it very difficult. This allowance allows these people to be able to move forward, certainly.

Status of Women committee  To answer your first question, which concerned harassment within the RCMP, which you no longer hear about, I must point out that, over the years, we have introduced a lot of processes, and have done so for a number of years now. Today, when cadets arrive at Depot Division as part of our recruitment program, and at the RCMP School in Regina, they take programs designed to inform them, whether they are men or women, on what harassment is because some people don't necessarily know what that represents.

Status of Women committee  Yes, we do have initiatives. Right now our goal in the recruiting program is to go to 25%—this is our goal for this year—and to have 25% of the recruits that are sent to that goal being 25% of the representation that's going to go per troop. And when I say per troop it's not necessarily per troop; it could be over the one-year period, 25% in those troops will be women.

Status of Women committee  Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting the RCMP to appear before you today. I am Superintendent Louise Lafrance, director of the national recruiting program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I joined the RCMP in 1985. Previous to that, l was hired as the first female police officer on a municipal police force in Mont Laurier, Quebec.

Status of Women committee  I brought a couple of items to show you afterwards if you want to look at them, just for fun. About five years ago, the late former commissioner Maurice Nadon told me a story from May 1974, when he announced the RCMP would be accepting applications from women to become regular members.