Plans and Priorities for 2004/2005

Minister’s Message

I am pleased to present the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Report on Plans and Priorities. This report covers the key plans, priorities and expected results for the period 2004/2005 – 2006/2007.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is part of the new portfolio of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, which also includes the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the Canada Firearms Centre, the National Parole Board (NPB), the newly created Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), as well as three review bodies.

There have been other important changes. The core activities of the former Department of the Solicitor General have been integrated with those of the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness (OCIPEP) and the National Crime Prevention Centre. This provides me portfolio-wide strategic policy advice and support in giving effective direction to the agencies responsible for policing and law enforcement, national security, border services, corrections and conditional release.

Recognizing the need to maximize our preparedness to respond to natural disasters rapidly and efficiently, OCIPEP has been integrated into the Department. This better prepares us to coordinate our effort with provincial and territorial partners, and positions us to respond rapidly and effectively to any incident – be it a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other public emergency.

This has been an exciting year for the public safety community in Canada. With the reorganization announced on December 12th, 2003, the Government has made significant progress in enhancing the safety and security of Canadians. By placing a broad continuum of agencies dedicated to safety and security within the same portfolio, the Government has provided the means for these agencies to work together seamlessly.

Gathering all this expertise under one banner allows for better integration across the public safety spectrum, linking front-end measures, such as emergency preparedness, crime prevention, community policing and border management, with remedial interventions, such as corrections and parole.

This new portfolio will help ensure a balanced approach to criminal justice, national security and public safety – an approach that protects Canadians’ fundamental rights and freedoms. It is founded in the understanding that to effectively combat crime, we need to invest both in preventative measures to help communities address social problems before they lead to criminal activity, as well as in critical law enforcement initiatives and programs, and community reintegration for offenders.

In the past year, the Government of Canada has made significant progress on key safety and security initiatives. It has, among other things, tabled legislation to improve the effectiveness of the correctional system, launched teams of law enforcement experts to detect major capital markets fraud, increased funding for First Nations policing, improved border security with the launch of more Integrated Border Enforcement Teams, and supported crime prevention projects, reaching communities large and small across Canada.

Your comments and suggestions on this Report on Plans and Priorities are welcomed. Further information, including departmental contacts and our Internet address, can be found under “Additional Information”. Each of the portfolio agencies, with the exception of CSIS, prepares its own report to Parliament. You are invited to consult their documents for more information.

Public safety, security and emergency preparedness are cornerstones of the plans and priorities for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – as well as the Government. We have an ambitious agenda, one that Canadians expect us to pursue with their best interests in mind. I am confident that, building on the initiatives, activities and successes achieved over the past few years, this new, integrated department will be better able to work toward fulfilling its mandate of ensuring a safe and secure society – for all Canadians.

The Honourable Anne McLellan, P.C., M.P.
Solicitor General of Canada
(Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada)