Public Accounts committee  I, André Girard, do swear that the evidence I shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before making my presentation, I would, if possible, like to know what kind of protection I can expect from the committee, since I am still an active member of the RCMP. I might be asked to say things which may lead to reprisals against me. I want to be

Public Accounts committee  I am talking strictly about protection for myself as an active member of the RCMP. Some RCMP members here today are retired, and others hold a much higher rank. But I still have several years of service ahead of me as a member of the RCMP, at least I hope so. I want to make sure

Public Accounts committee  I am satisfied with that, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. I will now make my opening statement. To begin, I would like to thank committee members for inviting me to testify today, in particular with regard to requests I made under the Access to Information Act. I have been w

Public Accounts committee  For many years, that was not the case, but over time, more and more were made. I realized that it was hard to obtain information from within the organization and that it took a long time. I therefore chose to file access to information requests to get information as quickly as po

Public Accounts committee  I can't say that I was not getting any information from the organization. Sometimes it was limited to certain subjects and it took a long time to get the information. I realized that it was becoming increasingly difficult to receive the information directly. So I decided to file

Public Accounts committee  As the representative for 1,000 civilian and regular members of the RCMP in Quebec, I thought it was important for them to know how their pension fund was being managed.

Public Accounts committee  That's what I believe, Mr. Laforest. You are absolutely right. I have always held that it is the right of the members, or in my case, the members of the Quebec and Cornwall divisions, which now make up Division C, to decide who will or will not represent them, to agree or disagre

Public Accounts committee  That's correct, yes.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, it happened afterwards, but that was not necessarily the only issue involved. What happened is that Ms. Barbara George, who appeared before the committee, established a policy, that is, she approved an RCMP policy dealing with potential conflict of interest situations involv

Public Accounts committee  I know that other people within the RCMP tried to run for the positions of either staff relations representative or assistant representative, which is more or less like being a delegate for a particular sector, and to my knowledge they were all prevented from doing so because, un

Public Accounts committee  Based on my experience of the last few years, I believe that this would lead to much more transparency. In fact, I believe it would bring about something I have been advocating forcefully for years, namely accountability at all levels: within the rank and file, within the staff r

Public Accounts committee  Yes, sir. Even though I was a divisional representative for 16 years, there is always a certain fear, if I can say so, in stepping forward to express yourself freely, even in this democracy, especially in a paramilitary organization such as the RCMP. There are repercussions, and

Public Accounts committee  That is one thing you are taught in the training--CYA. I learned in training to cover myself always. As you advance in the organization and become aware of a lot of situations going on, you can see members protecting themselves more.

Public Accounts committee  I think one member at this table knows even more than I do on this issue. That is Mr. John Spice. I know he's aware of a lot of anomalies that went on during his term. I know of cases. One of the big problems I faced as a division representative in the RCMP was institutional p