Public Safety committee  At the last meeting I committed that we would have in our next annual report a more detailed breakdown of the costs. The costs that are reflected in the annual report only relate to specific activities. I can tell you that for the cost for salaries and operating of the program—and I think we have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 34 coordinators in the program—it's approximately $5.5 million a year.

Public Safety committee  Generally, we don't comment on whether a person is in or is not in the federal program. But my understanding is that the case was well before the Witness Protection Program Act even took place.

Public Safety committee  I guess for me it would come down to knowing that if I'm acting within the act, and I know I am not breaching the act, I wouldn't have a problem talking about it. If I'm giving advice to Derek that he's going to break the law by doing that, then obviously I would have concerns.

Public Safety committee  My understanding of the story is that he was in the witness protection program prior to that for the assistance he provided concerning the Hells Angels, and that occurred, as far as I know, well before this act took place. But the short answer is no, he is not in our program.

Public Safety committee  I suspect not.

Public Safety committee  I can't say whether it is or isn't automatic, because as far as I'm aware, this is the first time this has ever happened. I guess I should clarify. Would British Columbia have started to examine that file beforehand? I am not sure. But I know that the driving force behind my becoming aware of the file and doing this examination was in part through the material that was brought forward through the press.

Public Safety committee  In the nine cases, I don't believe there were full reviews. If a person commits an offence, such as a break-in or a theft, then we'll be notified of that and we'll take our steps to terminate.

Public Safety committee  I'm not sure. I can get that information for you.

Public Safety committee  Do I personally? I'm not speaking for the RCMP, and no, I don't. It's really a challenging issue because there are lots of times when we sit here and we'd like to be able to tell you that this is what happened, and not make it as difficult as it is. I think that when the legislators got together to make that act, they knew it was going to be a challenge.

Public Safety committee  It's somewhere around that number, I would think. Again, I say that anecdotally because I've asked that question myself.

Public Safety committee  No. They would most likely stay in.

Public Safety committee  Yes. However, if we felt that those people faced the threat of having their new identity revealed by the person who had gone to prison, we would change their names and move them again so the person in prison couldn't provide a threat to those people.

Public Safety committee  I saw the testimony on that. My answer will have to be anecdotal, because I don't have exact numbers. Roughly 30% of people are in the program because they have some sort of family relationship to the person we needed to get into the program. Those people aside, I would say that probably 90% of the core group have a criminal past.

Public Safety committee  It's roughly 30% of the people in the program. They are in the program because they're attached to the person we needed to bring in as a protectee.

Public Safety committee  Yes. That's a rough, rough estimate.