Home Newsroom 2004 Speeches (archive) McLellan: 2004-08-27

Speech at the Canadian Professional Police Association annual conference

Speaking notes for
The Honourable Anne McLellan

St. John, New Brunswick
August 27, 2004

As delivered

Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Tony [Cannavino] for that kind introduction. I am pleased to be with you here today and to be back in New Brunswick because, as Tony mentioned, I lived in New Brunswick – not here in St. John, but in Fredericton – for four years when I began my career as a law teacher. I was brought up in Nova Scotia, so the trip to New Brunswick was not that far. I then made my way in 1980 to Alberta. But it is always great to come back to Atlantic Canada and to this wonderful province where I worked for four years.

I also want to acknowledge this morning in the audience Paul Zed, Member for Parliament for St. John. Paul, if you just want to wave to the crowd. Thank you very much for coming this morning. Interestingly, ladies and gentlemen, I know I don't look old enough, but Paul was a student of mine at the University of New Brunswick Law School. In fact, he was in my first contract class in 1976 and gave me most of the gray hair I still have today. It is great to have you here this morning, Paul, and I know that you look forward to representing this city, including the frontline police officers of this city who do such a great job every day to keep people safe.

I also want to thank Tony and your Board of Directors for inviting me here. I especially want to thank David Griffin, whom I have known for a long time -- back to the time when I was Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Look, let's just all be candid and honest here this morning, I think it is fair to say that there have been times when the relationship between your Association, even in its new form, and the Government of Canada and some departments wasn't always that cooperative, that smooth. I must say with Dave's arrival at the Police Association, I was Minister of Justice at the time, I really appreciated the fact that he wanted to work to try and make sure that we had a real partnership and dialogue. That was my goal as well. I just want to say to Dave a very big thank you because I know he has represented you and your interests well, along with your Boards of Directors', in the years that I have been working with your Association. He has done an awfully good job of keeping those lines of communication open and that is so important because we can't get where we all want to go unless those lines of communication are open.

So Tony, I just wanted to thank you and Dave and everybody on your Board of Directors because it is really important that we keep those lines of communication open and listen to each other. I'm not naïve; I know that we are not always going to agree on the way we get to our shared objectives. I think we all share the same objectives around the safety and security of our families, our communities and the people who live in our country. But I do think what is really important is that we work together in partnership and always listen to each other. I would be the first to admit that on our side sometimes that hasn't happened. But I'm here to tell you that certainly I am listening. And Tony, you and I and some members of the Board had the opportunity to meet in April and begin a group discussion. I look forward to the continuation of that discussion.

Now I also want to reassure everybody, and I'm not going to say a lot about this, but in terms of the new department, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, I think that some people have been afraid that it means that there won't be the same focus on policing and public safety, and that the emphasis in the department will be all around national security, terrorism, intelligence gathering for the purposes of preventing terrorist attacks. Obviously, that is a key part of this new department. That is one of the reasons why the Prime Minister created it on December 12th, so we could bring all those organizations together that deal with national security and put a sharper focus on it. Of course, you know as frontline policemen and women, that you are a key component of our fight against terrorism, that you are a key component of our national security strategy.

You are very often the first responders when there is an emergency, a disaster, be it manmade or natural. You are the people who are there, usually there first. Therefore, you are a very important part of our national security agenda. But beyond that, I want to reassure everyone here that as it relates to policing and community safety, and crime prevention and doing the things we need to do in our corrections and parole system to get it right – which I know is a concern of yours – that, in fact, these things continue to be key components of what I do and what Patricia [Hassard] does, and what our department does.

Now I have said a little bit about partnership. Clearly, partnership, cooperation, and interoperability between police and police systems are absolutely key to law enforcement investigations. So too is partnership between government on the one hand and law enforcement on the other. As I have said, we want to work with all of you on the front lines and give you the tools you need because public safety is everyone's concern.

Now I want to talk specifically about some of the items that I know have been on your agenda. I have this fairly lengthy speech, but we don't have much time, so just let me hit some of the key points that are on your program and some things that we are working on in the department.

First of all, I know Bill Baker was here yesterday to talk to you about the Firearms Program. This program has been with me for some time – in my life as Minister of Justice, and now as Public Safety Minister. I think that we have come a long way. It hasn't been without controversy and it hasn't been without mistakes – I would be the first to concede that – but I do believe that by screening all licenced applicants and continuously performing eligibility checks at the national level, the program does help to identify public safety risks and allow police to share information among different jurisdictions, enhancing public and police officers' safety. Police officers are using this system, accessing the Canadian Firearms Information System since its inception over 3.1 million times and each week, we are seeing 1,800 queries from the police.

We have, as a government, reiterated our support for the program. We are steadily reducing costs and I want to continue to drive those costs down. We are seeing better and better compliance. I now believe, after this difficult period we have gone through, all of us, that it is time to reap the benefits of the system and the investments that we have all made in it. And at the same time, the Government of Canada is expanding the use of new technology to assist police.

We have provided additional funding for the RCMP's National Police Services to establish Integrated Ballistic Identification System units, or IBIS. We have also put in place long--term funding for the National Police Services, National Weapons Enforcement Support Team, or NWEST, which was created three years ago to support law enforcement agencies in addressing the problems of smuggling and trafficking of illegal guns.

The Canadian Firearms Program, the Registry, the licensing programs like IBIS and NWEST are examples of ways we can support frontline police officers. Clearly, this support is part of a strong relationship between my department, the RCMP and police forces across Canada. I hope that we can build on this and enjoy continued cooperation in the future in this area.

I'm very conscious of the fact that the issue of gun smuggling and illegal guns on the street, especially of our big cities, is a key concern for frontline police officers. It is a key concern for myself and for the government, which is why we are going to invest more money in dealing with smuggling of guns – intimately related to organized crime in many situations.

We are going to put more resources into identifying illegal guns, especially working with our American counterparts through, perhaps, the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams to try and deal with that illegal flow of firearms back and forth between our two countries. A lot of those guns end up on the streets in Toronto, St. John, Edmonton and across this country and are then used to harm innocent people or commit crimes.

I want to thank the Association. I know the whole question around firearms and gun control hasn't been an easy issue. It hasn't been an easy issue for any of us and I want to thank this Association for discussing this issue honestly with us, discussing your concerns with us, being part of trying to make the system better. I just want to say that we really appreciate, I really appreciate that support because I have been involved in this for some time and it hasn't been easy for any of us at various times. But I think, again, our goal is to have an effective system of gun control in this country, where people take responsibility for the guns they own and use and we do everything we can to deal with the illegal guns on our streets.

Let me turn now to the question of corrections and parole and Tony, I want to thank you very much for the letter you sent me. In that letter, I think the things that you identify are and should be of concern to all of us. I want to reassure you that it is certainly of a concern to me. There have been some things that have happened recently and I can't talk about any specific case obviously, especially those under boards of investigation, but I do want to reassure you that I'm very much concerned and aware of the fact that there are issues within our correctional system. There are issues within our parole system.

Now we all know that most people who are convicted of crimes do get back out on the street. They serve their time, they get back on the street and therefore reintegration is important. We are a country that is one of the world leaders in terms of figuring out how you reintegrate people, knowing full well that most people who do time go back into their communities or some community. And that is very important, absolutely. I think we would all know that it is better to have secure and good reintegration than have these people dropped on the streets and then become your problem all over again, perhaps even more dangerous than they were before.

Having said that, we must constantly, from our end in the Correctional Service and within the National Parole Board be re-evaluating whether we have got the balance right and whether in fact we are always looking at the various elements of public safety – and reintegration is one of them. But part of public safety is making sure you don't let people out on the streets before one has made a reasonable determination around whether or not these people continue to be a risk – and in some cases, dare I say, a high risk. I mean, I just think that in light of some of the things that have happened recently, it is going to be very important for us to work with you.

And I know, Tony, that you have tried to establish a dialogue with the Correctional Service and with the Parole Board and you have my full support to make sure that that dialogue happens and that it happens in a fulsome way, and that people come to the table and deal with your organization in a fair, informed way, listening to the concerns that you have. Because that is the only way that we actually get to this shared objective that I was talking about at the beginning.

I know that there are specific changes you would like to see in the way our correctional system operates, specific changes to our parole system. In fact, we are continually reviewing the legislative framework and I'm going to do this again, in light of some of the recent events, that is take a look at whether or not we should send to the Standing Committee on Justice, or some other vehicle, a review of where we are in terms of our correctional system and parole in this country.

I haven't made any final decisions and in fact, I look forward to your input in terms of how we can work together to get the issues on the table and deal with them honestly so that we all understand both the concerns and the limitations under which we sometimes operate. But if we are not talking to each other, we can't get there. Therefore, it just seems to me we have to do a lot more, especially in this area and I know that that is a particular concern of yours and I want to reassure you that we want to work together on this. And clearly, we need to review aspects. As I say, we need to take a serious look at some parts of our parole system, how our correctional system operates and whether in fact the commitment to public safety is one that is always there.

Let me just turn to a few other issues that are of importance to all of us. I'm not going to say very much about this because you probably have questions and it would probably be better if people had questions. But I just want you to know that for example, in relation to child exploitation and especially the sexual exploitation of children, this is a very important issue for us and I'm very pleased that we now have a National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre within the RCMP, a national centre dealing with child exploitation. That centre, as many of you know, works closely with local police forces across the country. It is relatively new and we are providing it with new resources. It will be able to work more closely on the front lines with police across the country.

Clearly child sexual exploitation is a growing concern. Again, it is linked to organized crime and some of its manifestations and what we have to do is make sure again that we are sharing the information, we are working together, we are working in an integrated fashion, and that people have the resources they need to deal with what is happening on the streets and in the chat rooms, on the Net, whatever it may be.

I know police officers spend an awful lot of time investigating child exploitation cases. Unfortunately this is a global challenge and especially if one is dealing with the scourge of child pornography, this is something that is global in nature. It is something that organized crime is playing a bigger and bigger role in and it is going to be harder and harder for us, working here at home and with police forces around the world, it is going to get tougher for us to deal with aspects of child sexual exploitation. But we are completely committed to doing that. Again, we need to talk about whether we have got the resources in the right places, what kinds of new resources police forces need, the frontline police officers to deal with the challenges of child exploitation. I do believe that the Child Exploitation Coordination Centre within the RCMP is an important focus for coordination and facilitation, an important focus and resource from which local police forces can benefit.

Obviously we are going to continue to make national things like cybertip.ca, which was a pilot project in Manitoba. I congratulate the Manitoba Government and everybody who supported that. We are going to put resources into making that a national cybertip.ca line where people can report incidents of child exploitation and child abuse. In other countries, these tip lines have proven fairly valuable in helping the police do their work.

So we are very much moving on that front. The National Sex Offender Registry is also an important part of this strategy and I want to thank again your organization for the strong support of the Sex Offender Registry. That law was passed in April and what we will do is implement that and have it up and running this fall. I think it is again another tool that should help frontline police officers in their ability to deal with sexual exploitation, be it of children or others.

Organized crime continues to be a major challenge for all of us at the national and the local level. It is taking up more and more police resources, more and more resources of the national police force and local police forces. We have come a long way in terms of integrating our efforts and our intelligence gathering, working together as local and national police forces, to deal with the challenge of organized crime. Whether it is illegal grow ops, whether it is dissemination of child pornography, smuggling of guns, smuggling of people, whatever the case may be. But clearly, we have got huge challenges in areas like illegal grow ops all over this country.

When you think about how much of our frontline resources are being taken up dealing with something like illegal grow ops, they are proliferating. And I'm not pleased as a Minister of Public Safety when I, last week, opened Time Magazine, at least the Canadian edition, and saw this great big article about illegal grow ops in Canada and the huge problem with B.C. bud and marijuana, regardless of where it is grown in this country. What kind of problem is that for the United States and what kind of problem is it for us here at home on the streets?

That speaks to the fact that this is a national problem. This is a national challenge and nobody is naive enough to think that we are going to be able to deal with this easily. But again, it is something that I think it is going to take integrated efforts on the part of local police, private sector and national police force. Without that kind of integrated effort, we are not going to be able to succeed.

Just before I conclude, I want to go back to one thing, Tony. I know you had a panel before about corrections and parole and issues of victims. When I was Minister of Justice and Attorney General, we brought in some changes to the law to deal with issues surrounding victims and you know, that was an important development in terms of recognizing the role of the victim in the criminal justice system. But I think, as with everything else in criminal justice, it must be constantly reviewed and re--evaluated and nobody would suggest that we are where we should be in terms of acknowledging the costs to the victims of crimes. And I think, especially as it relates to parole, we want to review the fact that while people can present impact statements, they can go in person if they want, they can send a letter, but I know that for example with the specific situation of parole, many victims would like to have the opportunity to appear at these parole hearings and make sure the Parole Board understands the impact of that offender's crime on them and their family or friends.

We want to look — obviously there are resource issues and cost issues involved here – we want to review how we can ensure that the victim's voice is heard at all stages of the criminal justice system. We have come a long way in making sure the voice is heard in the courtroom. Now I think we need to do a better job of making sure that they are heard at all stages of the criminal process, and that includes parole hearings. Certainly, I want to work, again, I know it is an issue not only for your organization but victims groups as well, to see what more we can practically do to make sure that all the relevant voices are heard at all stages in our criminal justice system.

So ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying that none of us will get where we need to go unless we work together, unless we listen to each other. We won't always agree, and that is okay with me, but I really do think it is so important that we work together and we listen to each other.

Sometimes, and I will be the first to admit, sometimes government doesn't do that very well. We get locked into certain ways of doing things. We have got big institutions, whether it is Corrections or whatever it may be and they get locked into certain ways of thinking and doing things. Sometimes, you do need a jolt to think about things, if you like, outside the box and see what is really happening on the streets, in communities all over this country. We live in a global interconnected world. So in fact, some of the crime that happens on our streets in our local communities is connected to global crime. I mean we have to be listening to each other, to understand what is happening out there, and that is the only way we can build the systems that help you do what you do every day.

I want to conclude by saying again that this new department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness will never lose its focus on frontline policing. It will never lose its commitment to public safety in our communities in whatever form that needs to take, and I'm always open, Tony, to you and your board and I'm always open to talking to individual police officers across this country about the challenges they face.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, but most particularly I think all the people who live in this great country, I want to thank all of you and the people you represent here for everything you do every day to keep us all safe. So thank you very much and I look forward to your questions.