Public Safety committee  Thank you. I'd like to thank the parliamentary committee for allowing us to speak today about the significant safety concern relating to firearms. I'd also like to acknowledge really quickly those families who have lost a loved one due to violence, particularly violence with firearms.

Public Safety committee  It depends on what the offence is, but there is absolutely more time in a rehabilitation setting. The other piece to that, though, as you mentioned earlier, is that you also have to get the people out of the system who shouldn't be in jail, and let that system actually do what it was designed to do.

Public Safety committee  Yes, for sure. There are several. As I mentioned, we reallocated $38 million to work in the community safety and well-being space. We just did a commitment to action to build that relationship. We've had thousands of interactions with a lot of our marginalized communities. If you think about it on a different side, when you take out somebody who's drug trafficking in a gang, there's always a family member associated who will fill that vacancy.

Public Safety committee  I can take that. I used to be the deputy minister in charge of corrections and policing as well, so I think the best thing you can do right there is sort intake. As Deputy Chief Myron has said, get the right people in jail and hold the people responsible. The whole thing we've talked about....

Public Safety committee  There is certainly an increase in relation to gangs, but as Deputy Demkiw said, sometimes the data and the correlation.... We obviously have to get this right. As I said earlier, 12 of our homicides in Edmonton were related to gang activity, but out of that, there are at least nine that quite likely could be....

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would certainly agree with what Chief Bray said about the problem not being our law-abiding citizens in the disturbing trends on gangs and the data. Here are just a few opening remarks to give you some of the statistics we're seeing, from both the Edmonton Police Service and the province.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. We're in a day and age of AI and everything else, and we're not using it collectively.

Public Safety committee  There are 155 of them in Canada and the U.S. right now. I was just on the phone yesterday with Baltimore PD looking at launching one in Baltimore. What it really is, in a nutshell—I'll try to be quick so that we have more time—is exactly what we're talking about, with there being [Technical difficulty—Editor].

Public Safety committee  I think you're onto the crux there, MP Damoff. I think it's a little bit broader than that. They have to be safe first, so responding collectively, together, will give you that solution, and eventually, in time, hopefully you can design a better system. The reality is that it should be a screening in the dispatch centre first, with a professional mental health worker who has to make the right assessment on the call, to try to get enough information in today's day and age to send the right response.

Public Safety committee  Yes, it's a great question. It's really the crux of what we're talking about because, let's face it, a lot of those calls come in and they're not really knowing what they're going to be. Like I tried to say in my opening statement, if it's meth-related sometimes, obviously, it's unpredictable, and a large part of this is drug or alcohol induced, so it requires a partnership approach.

Public Safety committee  I have to apologize; I'm not getting the translation. What was the second part of the question?

Public Safety committee  First, I apologize for my bad French. In relation to marijuana, I'll give you the Edmonton example. We're not seeing a great impact with marijuana, to be bluntly honest. We still are seizing a large amount of marijuana in the mail, which is still an issue. I don't think we're seeing a big change there.

Public Safety committee  Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chair. I want to first acknowledge that it's a pleasure and a privilege to speak here with Peter and Tom, representing our organizations. I represent 1,900 sworn officers and approximately 900 civilians. I've been involved in the justice system for over 30 years as a sworn police officer and a deputy minister in government, co-chair of the federal-provincial deputy ministers committee and co-chair of CCJS with StatsCan for over four years.