For a keynote address at the Conference of Defence Associations

Remarks by
The Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety

February 15, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario
As Delivered

Thank you so much General (Paul Manson).

I know from the auspicious group before me that I can get away with greeting most of you as "General." This reflects the seniority of rank and experience, and your commitment to our country. We are so proud of each one of you and so thankful that you have committed your lives to one of the most noble professions – defending one's country.

Ladies and gentlemen, you know by now that we take very seriously a truism that says that the first responsibility of any government is the safety and the security of its citizens.

In our budget in 2006, $1.4 billion was committed to public safety – and that's not counting military spending. I'll come to that in a minute. Throwing out a dollar amount like that is something that can be done with relative ease. But specifically, it went to areas of enhancing and strengthening our national security.

We are sending a message to our allies that we're serious about security. We are sending a message to those who would want to do us harm that we are serious about protecting ourselves and others in time of need.

We made a commitment that we will add 1,000 more RCMP personnel. And so $161 million of that $1.4 billion went directly towards beginning the recruiting and the training of 1,000 more RCMP personnel.

Our border commitment is also very important and we take it very seriously. There was $101 million committed over the next two years for the arming of our border officers. That's something that our border officers have wanted to see for years and we are now proceeding to do that.

We also had a number of locations across the country at our borders where border officers worked alone, often in remote situations. And with some of the increasing intensity of organized crime activity in North America, that is not an enviable position to be in. And so, of that money that was set aside, there'll be 400 more border officers trained so that we will no longer have individuals working alone at the border in remote situations.

It's about protection and it's about security, but it's also about our prosperity. When Prime Minister Harper had his first meeting with the President of the United States and the President of Mexico, this was a top-of-the-line item for Prime Minister Harper – the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

We are making our borders stronger, safer and increasing our capabilities, not just along the lines of personnel, but also through technology. And you know, there has to be a combination. You can never replace or substitute human capability, human training, instinct and experience. But technology is a great boon to us these days.

Recently, I announced that at the Windsor border, we'd be putting more than $390 million into something called an electronic manifest system. It's already begun to be put in place and will be required in the near future for all people who are trucking goods across the border. They will electronically send their manifests ahead to the border points rather than arriving at the border and showing that border officer their manifest sheet there.

Like I said, the manifests will be electronically sent ahead, screened, and subject to a threat assessment. If everything passes, those trucks will move fairly quickly across the border because an assessment will have already been done, not only on what they have on board, but also on who the driver is, who the company is that he or she works for, and who their brokers are. In essence, a full security check will be done. This is an example of a good combination of security and prosperity being maintained. These are items that are critically important to us.

When we look at the situation of security in a broader context, as the General mentioned in his remarks, there is no question today that the world remains under a threat of terrorist activity. It is a blight upon our world. It is one that democratic nations, and thankfully even some non-democratic nations, are taking seriously. Here we start to get into areas that you have committed your entire lives to when it comes to protecting our country.

Even as we vividly remember the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we don't as quickly remember the Air India tragedy of 1985. Somehow we dismiss it or it can be dismissed out of our minds that there has been an attack on Canadians. That was the greatest single terrorist attack and killing of civilians until 9/11. Of the 324 people on that plane some 289 were Canadians, and many, many, were children.

We still remain under threat today. We are not immune to terrorist threats. It was only a few years ago that Osama Bin Laden listed us with six countries as targets – that he sent a message out to his purveyors of terror. The message was renewed again, as we saw in the papers yesterday. There was a similar threat last year about this time also naming Canada.

It's not strictly a matter of resources, but a matter of determination and will. That's why we take steps on the legislative side to protect Canadians. In the last year, we have banned two more groups, listed them as terrorists, so as to make it easier for our law enforcement agencies to move in on their funding and on people in Canada who might support these groups.

One of these groups is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the LTTE group, known to have been fundraising here in Canada for terrorist activity abroad.

And in October of 2006, we listed the Afghan-based Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's faction of the Hezb-e Islami, Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), as a terrorist group pursuant to the Criminal Code of Canada. There has been some pressure for a lengthy period of time to ban any activities or anybody supporting that particular group here in Canada. They were also fundraising. A group that is fundraising to perform activities in a country to kill our men and women in uniform is a group that not only should have no support in Canada, but also should be banned. And anybody helping a group like that should be dealt with.

Sometimes, our modern day historians only focus on the noble profession of peacekeeping. We have been great peacekeepers; but we have also had a role as peacemakers. Historians remind us that in World War I we answered the call three years before the Americans ever did. In World War II we answered the call two years before the Americans did.

We were there when people cried out for help in Korea. We were there in Kosovo. And when people cried out, when NATO wanted and the UN mandated the mission in Afghanistan, we were there. It's in our interests to support people who are crying out from emerging democracies.

It's also in our interest to make sure that the very lands that have been the central training ground for terrorists are reoccupied by the people, the peace-loving people of those lands. And so you know, we are with you and we will continue to support you as you do the work you have to do in Afghanistan. We thank you for doing that very important work.

Part of that work is reconstruction. This isn't simply a matter of dealing with the terrorists who think nothing of massacring and decimating, mutilating women and children and men, innocent people, non-combatants.

One of my colleagues, Minister Verner announced just a few days ago $16 million for a program of micro-financing to give to women and others in Afghanistan the ability to become economically self-sustaining.

Now that particular commitment of $16 million comes out of our billion dollar commitment over the next ten years to make sure that not only are we there on the safety and security side, but we're also going to be there to see that country reconstructed and rebuilt, to see democracy coming to life.

Along those lines it's not just our military that's in Afghanistan. I'm very proud to recognize the fact that we have RCMP officers there assisting in the training of people who are not accustomed to proper policing. They've asked for help with that.

In both policing and corrections, Canada is seen as a model around the world. We now also have corrections officers there (who I'm sure when they signed up to work in our federal prison facilities never thought they'd see the day when they would be able to volunteer in a place like Afghanistan). These officers are helping the people of Afghanistan understand the importance of human rights even in their prison systems.

These are remarkable endeavours. I can tell you it touched my heart in a significant way when I shook hands and waved goodbye last week to two of our corrections officers who were on their way to Afghanistan.

It's also not widely known how our military assists the RCMP in some of its activities. Just a few months ago there was a major drug operation that began off the coast of Africa, in terms of tracking shipments. It was the Navy who assisted the RCMP on some of the tracking. The result was the seizure, when they arrived here, of 22 tons of illicit drugs.

The military was there to assist. The military will also be assisting in security as we prepare for the 2010 Olympics. You've gained experience in working in a collaborative effort on border policing during the Super Bowl in 2006, which took place in Detroit. Along the waterway system there's a need for great collaboration. It just shows and underlines the importance of the military operations here at home to keep our country safe.

That's why you saw a commitment of $5 billion as part of the 2006 Budget – an extra $5 billion above and beyond what had been committed previously.

I believe that if you're going to have a military you have to equip them to do the job that they need to do both at home and abroad. And so you will see that support continue.

These types of joint activities will no doubt go on. By continuing our collaborative work, we can achieve even greater success in areas such as counter-drug and counter-terrorism operations.

But more than that, we understand that Canada's landscape is changing and that new challenges related to the North now exist. Many of you are familiar with Operation Beaufort in the Yukon and the extension of our Arctic operations that we are planning. These are all areas in which you need to be continually involved in a very significant way.

I find it interesting, ladies and gentlemen, that I've been able to catalogue for you some areas of tremendous achievement both on your own as a military and in collaborative efforts like the drug operation off the coast of Africa. Those were events about which we hold news conferences. But for reasons that I won't pretend to understand these events are not widely broadcasted subjects. We know your successes do occur quite regularly.

You know you are in a profession where your successes are not trumpeted anywhere near as much as the non-successes. In large operations there will always be times and moments when things don't go 100% the way they should. The Portfolio for which I'm responsible, some 52,000 people second only to the military in terms of number of personnel and you know what, not every single one of those 52,000 people performs perfectly 24 hours a day.

I have a secret for you, neither do I. There's some media here. I hope that secret doesn't get out because you know as politicians we like to present a picture of perfection, but that is simply not the case.

So we have to deal with the fact that just as you want your organization to be operating as efficiently and as well as it can be, if there are things or individuals that don't perform up to standard, you want to deal with that.

But you know very well, as we stand here today acts of bravery are being performed right now in Afghanistan. And in other places where we are serving.

Those men and women may not have their names in the newspaper today or tomorrow or the next day. They might retire and never have their names in the newspaper for the incredible acts of courage and service which they have performed.

But you know when you put your head on the pillow at night that you have put in a good day of service, that you've honoured your country, that you've made this nation, and in fact the world, a better place. That will be your headline on your pillow, in your mind and in your heart. And you might have to be satisfied with that.

I want to extend thanks to you for being satisfied with that. That serving your country is what it's all about, making this nation strong and secure, a welcome place for others to come to and a vibrant place for everybody to live in.

I thank you for your lifetime of commitment to that and we are with you in that commitment. Thank you.