Public Safety committee  Not at all. The role of the board would be to support the commissioner by providing her with advice. The commissioner retains command and control of the RCMP under the direction of the minister and nothing in the bill would alter that relationship.

Public Safety committee  Training would be a question that the RCMP and the board will want to discuss once the board is in place. I think it would be open to the board to have views on what kinds of training would be useful to them, both about police operations and about management. It would also be open to the RCMP to offer that to the board.

Public Safety committee  That's correct. The bill would leave the board open to determine its own priorities and determine its own ways of working. We would foresee an arrangement similar to what would exist between many other advisory boards, or boards of management, and a deputy head, which is a healthy dialogue between the two about where advice would be necessary and welcome.

Public Safety committee  If we look at the government response to the CRCC and Fraser reports that was made public in January 2019, the things that the Minister of Public Safety highlighted included transparent and accountable governance structures, trusted harassment prevention and resolution mechanisms, the leadership development within the RCMP and the RCMP's enterprise-wide commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Public Safety committee  The board has a role to play in supporting the commissioner in ensuring that the HR practices that are in place within the RCMP build a healthy workforce and a safe workplace. It would provide the commissioner with guidance on the adequacy of any new arrangements and on adapting them, going forward.

Public Safety committee  The bill would provide that the RCMP would provide to the board whatever information the board believes is necessary for it to do its job. There's a positive obligation in the bill on the RCMP to provide that information, subject to a few constraints. Those would include, as we discussed, personal information, cabinet confidences and information related to ongoing law enforcement investigations or prosecutions.

Public Safety committee  Sure. Good afternoon. I'm Randall Koops, the director general of policing and firearms policy at Public Safety Canada. I am accompanied by Jacques Talbot. He is a lawyer and legal counsel for the Department of Justice. We're happy to appear today to assist the committee in its examination of division 10 of part 4 of Bill C-97.

Public Safety committee  We assist police by providing them with an additional tracing tool they have in their tool box, the point-of-sale records. The other issue I would note is that the minister referred to the $100 million a year of investment in guns and gangs funding to be shared with provinces and with federal law enforcement organizations.

Public Safety committee  Sorry, my colleague has a small addition, if she may.

Public Safety committee  Bill C-71 will close that loophole.

Public Safety committee  I'm sorry, we haven't had those discussions with stakeholders, at least at the officials level.

Public Safety committee  Twenty years is identified as an international best practice among various countries that Canada does trade with.

Public Safety committee  June 30 was chosen to provide a certain period of notice to owners and vendors of these firearms before the legal status of them would change. It provides time for people who may own the firearm to decide whether they wish to remain an owner of the firearm, whether they wish to comply with the requirements that would be in place to become a grandfathered owner.

Public Safety committee  I think in general it makes them less desirable from the perspective of one has significantly reduced opportunities to sell the firearm because one can only sell it to another grandfathered owner. The firearms are less attractive from that perspective in the sense of their market value.

Public Safety committee  The subsection 12(6.1) handguns are a group of firearms for which there is a class of grandfathered owners. They are permitted, with the appropriate authorization to transport, to take those firearms to the range for the purpose of target shooting. Most other prohibited firearms do not go to the range.