Public Safety committee  In fact, a report is going to the Auditor General today to tell them what we have done. We have very seriously examined our processes. I mentioned that we've been out to speak with the client to find out what targets should be set. A critical component of that report was not so m

Public Safety committee  And the Forensic Science Service in England as well, I think.

Public Safety committee  We do work with defence counsel. We try to do it in conjunction with them and the crown attorneys. We don't provide work in confidence. So we don't work in the way that they can hire us to do a case, for example. But if they want specific tests done or if they have something that

Public Safety committee  The Province of Ontario pays for it. We just take it on as a case. We try to treat the defence counsel the same as we treat the police and the crown attorneys.

Public Safety committee  There are some concerns about the numbers in that report, because we're comparing turnaround times with actual targets, which are theoretical limits. We have concerns about long turnaround times, and in the last year we've put a lot of effort into reducing our turnaround times.

Public Safety committee  We're in the same situation as Quebec. We have the same type of agreement. We did sign the extension that gave us the same funding as 2005. We haven't had an increase, but we do have the interim agreement.

Public Safety committee  It's the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Public Safety committee  In Ontario we're separate from the police. We are in the same ministry as the Ontario Provincial Police, but we are independent of the police service.

Public Safety committee  I'll comment on both issues. I'd like to mention that my experience with private sector forensic applications is that because it is a very narrow and small field, it's not a really profitable business to get into. Historically, the people who have provided private service in fore

Public Safety committee  The police in Ontario might go to a private lab after they've exhausted all possibilities with us. They are free to do that, and we know that from time to time they have done it.

Public Safety committee  The short answer to that is no.

Public Safety committee  That is correct.

Public Safety committee  We have to get the universities interested in doing that. Canada is a small market, so it is a challenge. We've had linkages with the University of Toronto to develop a forensic science program, and some of their students come into our lab periodically, and we do work with other

Public Safety committee  Yes, there's a program at the University of Toronto, and there is one at UOIT, which you referred to, and there are some in the north. There are a lot of programs. We're calling it the CSI effect. Lots of kids want to go into forensic science right now. I need one second to jus

Public Safety committee  I can start, because there's some irony in what you've just said. In the U.S., there's a National Academy of Sciences report that has been tabled recently in which they are criticizing American laboratories in particular, and also criticizing fingerprint science because it's not