Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We've just hired our first Inuit cadet, who will be attending Depot this month. They're the first Inuit member we've hired in the past decade. We've just hired two operators in our dispatch centre in Iqaluit, which you spoke about earlier, who speak Inuktitut. Also, all front counter staff at the Iqaluit detachment speak Inuktitut.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't want to volley this back to our colleagues at Public Safety Canada, however, the RCMP is responsible for providing contract policing to a specific province or territory. Presently, we're working with Public Safety Canada, I believe in a consultation phase. I'm not aware if we do have any CTA positions presently in the territories, but I'm hoping that we may get there.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is a very complex matter whereby the provinces and the territories are responsible for the administration of the police. I noted in the Auditor General's report that this is clearly work that the RCMP needs to improve upon, and we intend to do that with our counterparts at Public Safety Canada.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The RCMP, along with other police organizations nationally, right now are having a very challenging time recruiting anybody, period. With that, in 2023, we started a very robust recruiting program. We launched a first nations, Inuit and Métis recruiting strategy specific to those designations to help increase the number of applicants and increase candidate retention.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's funny you should ask that question. The brother of one of the IPTP cadets attended his graduation, and he was a graduate of that program, so he and I had a discussion. I think, along with other initiatives we have locally in communities, including our indigenous communities, that is well under way.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. The Auditor General has identified that gap. It's a gap that, through our management action plan, we hope we can close. I would, if I may, talk about our national reconciliation pathway, which might assist. As we renew our priorities and commitments for reconciliation, we continue to embrace the phrase “nothing about us without us”, ensuring the inclusion of first nations, Métis and Inuit voices, perspectives and advice, and new and innovative ways of working together.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for that. I would start off by saying, again, as Mr. Tupper referred to earlier, the provinces and territories are responsible for the tempo, if you will, and the priorities for policing in that specific area. Our primary concern as the RCMP is to ensure that in all communities public safety is the number one priority.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I will answer if I may. I can't get into specifics regarding pay. I do know that the RCMP, since we've been unionized, is now more comparable to other police forces of similar type and size across Canada. Other police of jurisdictions and provincial areas have pay and benefits that I won't speak to.

Public Accounts committee  We have a number of programs under way. Primarily the commissioner has his indigenous advisory committee, which includes representatives from each province and territory to provide the commissioner and me—I'm the chair of that committee—with direction on what types of programs they would like to see in their communities.

Public Accounts committee  Additionally, we have an anti-racism unit now embedded within our chief human resources office. Right now, we are looking at a pilot project nationally for race-based data collection. That's the perception of police officers when dealing with people they can encounter in the community.

Public Accounts committee  That's a very good question, Mr. Chair. Yes, we're looking at implementing recognition for those employees who endeavour to learn indigenous languages in communities. However, our tenure is often very short in some of the more remote locations. We're looking to see if we can find a retention and attraction strategy for that.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The RCMP's management advisory board has also provided similar information, which we received in the fall of 2023. We also have the RCMP-indigenous, co-development, collaboration and accountability unit that was launched in 2021 to address some of those internal barriers to ensure that the indigenous employees in the RCMP are provided fair and equitable opportunity, but external outreach as well.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, I have.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Out of the 231 recommendations, it becomes very complex. Some are provided directly towards the RCMP; some are provided to our stakeholders, and some are provided in combination between us and others.

Public Accounts committee  I can't provide an exact number, but I believe it would be around 30.