Justice committee  With respect to the security, for example, I think I made mention of the fact that the parole board will be required to impose reasonable and necessary safety conditions following a victim impact statement that highlights concerns over security, provided those measures are necessary and reasonable.

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. I'll start, and then I'll invite Mr. Churney to add anything to my remarks. With respect to the investigation, certainly the victim will have a right to have information with respect to the ongoing investigation, as Ms. Morency said, not to impede in any way the investigation—there is always the independence of the police—but they will have the right to be kept informed of the investigation.

Public Safety committee  Certainly there are companies—you mentioned Tim Hortons—whose goal is to provide goods and services while also addressing a social agenda. I think those are the kinds of companies you want to partner with. Just to go back to Shawn's point earlier, it really comes down to the partnership in communities.

Public Safety committee  In part the motivation is the increase in costs. While the crime rate is going down, unfortunately the costs of the criminal justice system are continuing to increase at a rate of about $20 billion a year, for policing, courts, legal aid, and so on. That is part of the motivation.

Public Safety committee  The Elizabeth Fry Society has an MOU with the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services whereby, with some initial seed money, they were able to create an enterprise through which women offenders can participate in a company and obtain some skills recycling roofing materials, so it has an environmental dimension to it as well.

Public Safety committee  We did elaborate on some during the presentation. Beyond those I think, as we offered earlier, we have a list in a report of all the initiatives that had been categorized according to those three categories that we mentioned earlier; that is, new, promising.... So we'd certainly be happy to provide the committee with a list of those and the evaluated results, if that would be helpful.

Public Safety committee  My understanding is that the program was initially started in 2008 and targeted youth at risk between the ages of 10 and 17 years of age. I can't tell you at this time how many participants have been put through the program, but there are cohorts of participants. It's not one, as my colleague said earlier.

Public Safety committee  Again, it would vary based on the program itself. The funding can vary from one program to another, and the percentage that's funded as well. In some cases we'll fund 100% of the program. In some cases the community will secure a certain contribution to offset some of the federal funding as well.

Public Safety committee  Just briefly, with respect to some of those models that are funded and that get funded after, NCPC, the funding for the strategy, is very time-limited. It is up to a maximum of five years and it's non-renewable. It's really to foster evidence-based projects. However, in some cases, as I said earlier, because of the demonstrated success, the funding is then continued through either provincial governments, municipal governments, community organizations, or foundations.

Public Safety committee  Just to go back to the point with respect to how we collect the metrics, I think an important point to make is that the evaluation of the program is part of the funding of the program. So It's something that's done initially at the outset. It's a condition of the funding, so the metrics are very clearly established in terms of how we are going to measure success.

Public Safety committee  In some cases it's reduced risk of recidivism. We know through the metrics that are collected that they've had less intervention by the police, less contact with the police, they've stayed in school. We know that schooling helps to reduce risk factors, as does solid employment, for example.

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned in some of my remarks, that's not certainly the case in all the successful programs. In a number of the programs where we have been able to demonstrate that they have been successful, they've been able to secure continued funding through provincial, municipal, community, or other organizations largely because they've been able to demonstrate, through evidence-based studies, that they do make a difference.

Public Safety committee  I'll start. You can add to it, Shawn. In some cases, it's fewer points of contact with the criminal justice system. In other cases, it's sometimes more anecdotal in terms of reports from teachers and parents, and in terms of improved familial links in relationships. Sometimes it's a combination of both, but certainly the points where they intersect with the criminal justice system is always a key interest.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you today. I gather you would like to learn more about social finance and how this approach can advance crime prevention in Canada. I am very happy to hear that the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security wants to carry out a study on this topic, as this will help clarify the work being considered by Public Safety Canada.