Public Safety committee  It's not for me to answer.

Public Safety committee  Are you asking if CBSA checks other countries' retention periods?

Public Safety committee  We have arrangements in place that dictate what they should do. Do we go and audit other countries' systems? Likely the answer is no.

Public Safety committee  Well, I see two aspects of your question. Anybody can be referred at any time for any reason. It doesn't mean you are a higher-risk or lower-risk individual. That's one aspect. Is there anything you can do? Not really. We reserve the right to question anybody coming to Canada.

Public Safety committee  It depends, right? If the information is factually incorrect, you can request a correction and we'll evaluate it. The reason I say this is that, you know, you could have maybe divorced and you don't want to see your husband's name or your wife's name on your information, and you ask to have that taken off.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I would defer to Kristine to add to anything I say. We have regular audits in place. We have a joint review with the European Union. We regularly respond to questions from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. We regularly respond to access to information requests.

Public Safety committee  If it's in our best interest and to protect the Canadian public, absolutely, we have everything to gain.

Public Safety committee  No.

Public Safety committee  A written agreement—

Public Safety committee  It's actually entrenched in our regulations. We have the ability to do that.

Public Safety committee  We do have a treaty in place with the European Union, and the commitments are actually outlined. The 43 commitments that I alluded to earlier are in the 2006 agreement with the European Union.

Public Safety committee  It's very specific.

Public Safety committee  We have privacy safeguards in place. It's very controlled. The systems are accessible only by authorized officials. It's very clear in the 43 commitments what CBSA is going to do with the information—where we're going to place it, who is going to access it, how long we're going to retain it, when we begin to depersonalize it, the reason we're accessing it.

Public Safety committee  If we don't get the information early, we're not able to mitigate threats before they arrive on Canadian soil.

Public Safety committee  We may or may not have. I know that a tip came in from his father. When did the tip come in? If we had the information earlier.... I mean, we're talking timelines. It's possible.