Public Safety committee  That is another excellent question. I truly doubt that there would one single agency appearing before you today which would claim having sufficient resources to deal with the problem. However, it must be recognized that currently... I will give you an example. In Ontario and in

Public Safety committee  Indeed. However, one must understand that the decisions to proceed by summary conviction or indictment must be based on evidence available to the Crown attorney at that time. I do not think that I'm able to speak for justice. However, you are absolutely right with respect to the

Public Safety committee  Well, I would beg to differ on that point, sir. A number of projects have actually come to fruition over the past year, targeting some of those facilities.

Public Safety committee  Actual facilities?

Public Safety committee  I'm afraid I can't provide you with that answer.

Public Safety committee  The facilities themselves? I don't know, sir. I don't know. But what I can tell you is that there have been quite a few individuals charged. There have been a total of 918 people charged in the course of the past two years. The individuals who have been charged--and you have to

Public Safety committee  So whether the manufacturers are still operating.... I know some of them are operating and I would suggest to you, sir, that probably the majority of them are operating.

Public Safety committee  In response to your comment, sir, I would suggest to this honourable committee that we have to recognize that the agencies that are sitting at the table here, over the past many years, have been focused on trying to eradicate the problem. If you look at the seizure levels over th

Public Safety committee  It's a combination, sir, of different initiatives. It's education within the communities and it's also enforcement and regulation of the industry.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for that very good question. Unfortunately, I don't have the figures on how many people have been brought before the courts on summary conviction or indictment. However, we can find those figures and convey them to you.

Public Safety committee  We are focusing on the upper levels of criminal organizations. If most of our people were to focus on the lower levels, the impact on the organizations would be minimal. However, we do recognize that a balanced approach is needed. In answer to your question, I can say that some

Public Safety committee  Certainly, sir. I'm afraid that in terms of being able to provide you with percentages of contraband tobacco in Canada that originates from manufacturers here in the country compared to what originates in the U.S., I'm not in a position to provide you with those statistics. Those

Public Safety committee  No. You're absolutely right.

Public Safety committee  As for unlicensed manufacturers that we have identified to date in the Akwesasne territory, we believe that between 11 and 13 factories exist. In the Kahnawake territory, there would 11. In the Six Nations, there would be seven.

Public Safety committee  These are unlicensed premises.