Public Safety committee  I totally understand that. My point here is that I am telling you, from the other side, that it can be useful. The decision to keep it, use it, or destroy it because of privacy considerations is a public policy decision.

Public Safety committee  Well, the SIRC report didn't say, “What you're doing is illegal”. The SIRC report only raised the issue that, according to SIRC, the service had not fully briefed the Federal Court on this program.

Public Safety committee  Yes, just to make it even more confusing, it's metadata that—

Public Safety committee  What I'm saying is that I remember one of the two of us using that, that it's like the address on an envelope, nothing more, almost minimizing the importance of metadata, which certainly was not my intent, if I said that.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  In 2006, the minister was briefed because we were implementing the program. We advised the minister at the time that we wanted to implement the program, and we told him about its usefulness. Over the years, the program was mentioned in the annual report that the service must sub

Public Safety committee  Yes, there are briefings, but it's important to understand that the program we're talking about is a component of various other programs.

Public Safety committee  Well, not just that minister, but on a number of occasions.... Just give me a second. For example, from 2007 to 2010, the service actually described the program and what it was doing. Every year, the director has to submit a classified report to the minister. From 2007 to 2010, O

Public Safety committee  I cannot comment on whether or not that question was asked at the time. There's no documentation.

Public Safety committee  We'll try but, once again, because of the nature of the database architecture, it can be extremely difficult to find out how many people were involved.

Public Safety committee  Not necessarily. It shows that when metadata is put in a database, no link is established between the data and the individuals. We're talking about telephone numbers, emails, IP addresses. It's difficult to determine how many individuals that represents, simply because there is n

Public Safety committee  That's exactly the meaning of the decision.

Public Safety committee  Well, I would have to go back.... I don't think that at the time we were seeking his approval. We were informing him that we were putting that program in place.

Public Safety committee  No.