Status of Women committee  I guess from a policing perspective the RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service face this all the time, of course, when you have women and people travelling back and forth between jurisdictions. We've had instances where we've had people come to Winnipeg and they've simply vanished, and people from our rural communities of course come in and try to organize searches and whatever.

Status of Women committee  Yes, absolutely. We begin working with the youth, of course, in schools, with our youth workers and with our in-classroom officers. We work shoulder to shoulder with Child and Family Services. In fact, recently I worked with a member in Thompson. We worked one full evening beside a Child and Family Services worker, looking at some of the problems, and of course they were right there when we needed them.

Status of Women committee  We have an integrated task force where our police agencies are working together. We've reviewed approximately 84 files, and we're reviewing more. We're looking for similarities between the investigations. So we're working very closely together. All of the files from all of the police agencies will be touched, they will be reviewed, as will the relationships across the country.

Status of Women committee  Just starting in Manitoba, I think we've had many success stories here, going as far back as 2003. The creation of the task force and the missing persons project that we undertook in 2007, to identify all missing women where foul play was suspected and looking at all missing persons, I think was a huge step forward for us.

Status of Women committee  I travel extensively in the province, and the communication to my members is this, and I know this is relayed across the force: you will treat all persons in Manitoba with the same level of dignity, respect, professionalism, and compassion as you would any other person. What does that mean?

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. We police, as you know, a majority of Manitoba's rural communities and first nations communities. I think there are a couple of very important points we have to get across, certainly relative to policing and partnerships. I think the first is with regard to perceptions training for the police.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Good morning. I'd like to thank the committee for allowing the RCMP to appear here this morning. It means a great deal to us. “D” Division RCMP provides policing services to most of Manitoba's rural and remote communities: more than 446,000 people, including 59 first nations and 48 Métis communities.