Public Safety committee  Yes, I can. I'll clarify that. I want to go back to a bit of history and to the MacGuigan report. Back in the day, in the 1970s, we were the National Parole Service and all parole officers in the community did report to the parole board. The MacGuigan report said that really didn't look too great and we should change that, so in 1979 the Penitentiary Service became Correctional Service of Canada and took over all responsibility for the parole officers.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I'm going to ask my colleague to respond to that because she is responsible for the board member secretariat.

Public Safety committee  I wasn't aware of how that previous process worked, but I can say that there has been a huge push, a huge emphasis on looking at ensuring that we reflect more of the Canadian population than we have in the past. As I said, 53% of our board members now are women; 7% are visible minorities and 12% are now indigenous people.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  No, I don't agree at all. I want to say that we did a bit of a review of how board members have changed over the last 20 years. I'm going to say to this committee, to each of you, that whenever there is a change of government, you see a big change in the makeup of the Parole Board.

Public Safety committee  Yes, Mr. Chair, for the record. It was a life sentence with no full parole eligibility for 15 years. Offenders are allowed to apply for day parole three years before their full parole eligibility date. He became eligible for day parole in 2016. When day parole was granted, it was 2019.

Public Safety committee  That's my understanding.

Public Safety committee  Yes, and I'd just like to clarify that for lifers they will never be released unless through a Parole Board decision, because the statutory release doesn't apply to lifers. However, the court or the judge sets the time at which—

Public Safety committee  Okay.

Public Safety committee  In actual fact, for lifers who have been released into the community, they serve, on average, seven years past that eligibility date before they are released.

Public Safety committee  Yes, he was released—I don't have it with me—but was it 10 years the judge set for his...and he was released three years after that.

Public Safety committee  All right.

Public Safety committee  Anyway, we can look into that, but he was released three years after his eligibility.

Public Safety committee  Sylvie, can you answer that?

Public Safety committee  Mr. Bouchard had taken some personal leave, so we have had another board member take on the administrative duties of the vice-chair position in the Quebec region. Basically, by law, vice-chairs are responsible for ensuring that board members in their region are properly trained and ensuring that they are abiding by the board members' code of conduct.