Public Accounts committee  The cases are different. It's also important to know that, if the agency can't find an individual, it's likely that the person has already left the country. In the case of criminals, it's very important to follow up more rigorously to ensure public safety.

Public Accounts committee  The purpose of our audit was to examine the cases included in the inventory. The question of what the agency did with the surplus money should be asked directly to the agency.

Public Accounts committee  All the cases in the inventory are related either to rejected refugee protection claims, criminality cases, or cases where visas have expired. These individuals must leave the country, and this is a legal fact.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. I should point out that if the agency is aware of any delays with respect to this program, the agency is the one that can tell you. During our audit, we noted that the program was underutilized. I encourage you to ask agency officials this question.

Public Accounts committee  It is my understanding that all cases in the inventory of removals are those where all legal avenues have been exhausted. The issue is not whether they'll have to leave the country—they will have to, as Mr. Ossowski mentioned earlier. If they are from countries where there is war, for example, they are not included in this inventory, and their case is not among those we have examined.

Public Accounts committee  I'm sorry, but could you repeat the question?

Public Accounts committee  We did not examine whether it was under-resourced. I think the agency mentioned that it received a little more money. The problem is probably caused by human error or a delay in the exchange of information. The system did not assist the agency in setting priorities and there was no alert when a change was made or new information was available.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to present the results of our audit report on immigration removals. Joining me is Carol McCalla, the principal who was responsible for the audit, and Erin Jellinek, who led the audit team. The audit examined whether the Canada Border Services Agency removed foreign nationals found inadmissible to Canada.

Public Accounts committee  It's my understanding that we did not look at all the underlying systems. We did look at the supply chain from the time a request is entered until its delivery point. Over the years, through the public accounts audit, we do look at the challenges that the department has had in properly tracking the quantities and values of inventory, which is part of what you're talking about.

Public Accounts committee  I will ask Nick to chime in, in a few minutes, in case he does have some additional information. Whenever we undertake any audit, we always look to best practices, whether they be across our country or in other places. I am not exactly sure to what extent that was done when it came to looking at other defence departments across the world, or other companies that manage supply chains, so I will turn to Nick to see if he can provide some additional insight on that.

Public Accounts committee  I believe that the department is in a better position to answer this question and to explain the cause. You must understand that a supply chain is complicated. It's complex. It's even more complex when you include the logistics of delivering materiel across the country on ships, or abroad.

Public Accounts committee  As the National Defence officials said, we received an action plan in response to the recommendations in the report. We also have an action plan, which addresses the recommendations that we noted during our financial audits of the Public Accounts of Canada. We're satisfied with the measures implemented to address the recommendations in the report.

Public Accounts committee  The department would be in the best position to tell you whether the date is realistic when it comes to implementing all the improvements that National Defence must make. We like to see progress. For several years, when we commented on the Public Accounts of Canada audits, the department didn't follow up.

Public Accounts committee  The definition of high priority is one that was set by the department. I think it depends on the circumstances of the situation, obviously. I might ask Mr. Swales, who is with me, if he has some specifics. We simply looked at whether the high priorities arrived on time. What we saw is that in 60% of the cases they were late.

Public Accounts committee  Perhaps Ms. Thomas will want to add to this, but what our audit looked at was the actual mechanics of the supply chain from requests to delivery, not at the impacts it might have had operationally. I do believe that question would be best answered by someone at National Defence or in the Canadian Armed Forces.