Public Safety committee  It would be in the Security Intelligence Review Committee—

Public Safety committee  Thank you. To respond to your question on the main estimates for SIRC's budget, our relocation and modernization project is roughly $2.1 million, and the funds are being provided to SIRC primarily this year and next. The reason for that, first, is that we have to change faciliti

Public Safety committee  For this financial year, we are planning on hiring 11 full-time equivalents.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Chair and members, good afternoon and thank you for having invited SIRC to appear before you today to discuss Bill C-22, the national security and intelligence committee of parliamentarians act. Our chair, the Honourable Pierre Blais, sends his regrets for not being able to join

Public Safety committee  If I understand your question correctly, speaking to clause 9 on the co-operation between the committee of parliamentarians and SIRC, were you asking should it—

Public Safety committee  I'm of the opinion, when I read clause 9, that there is no unnecessary duplication. I'll speak specifically to the mandate of SIRC and what I see as the intended mandate of the committee of parliamentarians. Absolutely there could be some duplication in the sense that the commi

Public Safety committee  SIRC will definitely look at policy frameworks within CSIS. We'll look at whether they are abiding by their own policies and so on. Of course we will look at the legislated mandate of CSIS contained in the CSIS Act, and we will ensure that they are staying within their lane as de

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned earlier, SIRC has unfettered access to CSIS facilities, to CSIS people, and CSIS information, with of course the exception of cabinet confidences. We can look at any information activity at CSIS. Under paragraph 8(b), it says “the appropriate Minister determines th

Public Safety committee  Under section 54, the minister can ask SIRC to carry out a specific review, but I want to be very clear on that. He can only ask. We are not compelled to do it. If you look at the issue on metadata that surfaced in the news a little while ago, the minister has asked us to take a

Public Safety committee  That's a great question. We have a very diverse committee, a committee of five, and we refer to them as eminent Canadians. They have varying levels of expertise in what I would call a wide area or wide domains. They all bring their specific expertise to the table, but it's not a

Public Safety committee  Thirty-one and change.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we hire lawyers and researchers with tremendous backgrounds. We have that level of continuity within the organization with full-time staff members attacking the problems that are required of us.

Public Safety committee  If I speak to the SIRC example, we have tremendous institutional expertise and knowledge within our organization. Of course, we have the benefit of having done 31 years' worth of review, specifically, of CSIS. I expect that over time, the secretariat that supports the committee o

Public Safety committee  Right now, our budget is roughly $2.5 million on a yearly basis. As you probably know, we have capacity funding for this fiscal year that pretty much doubles our budget this year.