Public Safety committee  I believe there is a briefing note, but I'm not sure whether it was a briefing note to the commissioner or a briefing note that went over to the minister's office.

Public Safety committee  We have a little more than 700 people in the program who we are actively managing. Then we have a little more than 300 people for whom police agencies have asked for secure documents, we've provided those secure documents, and that agency looks after the moving and monitoring of the person.

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  I just want to say that within Canada it would be very rare that we would look to relocate somebody. We obviously have a large country and we have lots of options.

Public Safety committee  It can be for a number of different reasons. The exact details I don't have here, but I have enough to give you a pretty good idea. We had 19 voluntary withdrawals from the program in a three-year period, from April 2004 to April 2007. Out of that, we had three who returned to the area of threat.

Public Safety committee  There is a procedure that is taught. We have a witness protection coordinator course that is two weeks long. Through scenarios, it covers that very type of instance. But when a person does something outside of that protection agreement, they are served with a written notice that's standardized across the country.

Public Safety committee  In terms of experience, I've worked for about 20 years in British Columbia. I've worked on a number of drug units around the province, in a couple of different major crime sections, and I have used informants extensively. The information you receive from them is very valuable.

Public Safety committee  There is one point we should make, so we're clear. Not all of the people who become our agents have a long history of being informants. There may be times when they find themselves in circumstances and come forward to say, now's the right time. Then they come in, especially if they're in criminal organizations where it's usually a fairly stressful lifestyle, because they never know what's going to happen.

Public Safety committee  The next one should be available, I believe, by the fall of this year. I asked about that, and I think that's generally the timetable.

Public Safety committee  We're going to make a few changes, because it's not clear when you read the report, if you don't work in that field every day, what we mean by the persons from the other agencies and which ones we protect. I know that when I started the job, there were a number of different columns, and I had to continue to go back and ask what things meant, so I assume that if I have questions then other people will too.

Public Safety committee  The funding would change depending on what the requirements were around the witnesses we move. We may move witnesses who have had training and certificates in one certain area, and then once we move them and they assume their new identity, all that's lost, so we have to completely retrain them.

Public Safety committee  I understand that's the case, but I don't have first-hand knowledge to say that in some areas this is what their policy is. But I do agree that is the case in some areas.

Public Safety committee  With respect to that question, we can't give a definite answer because it's still under review. I can't say that it will be a case where people are not charged.

Public Safety committee  That particular lawyer would be treated like everybody else, including us. The guidelines from the act are quite clear in that we can't have a situation where an old identity is linked to a new identity of a person who is in the witness protection program, so everybody would have to be mindful of what the act says and the way it's written.

Public Safety committee  That's my understanding, yes.