:
I call the meeting to order.
Today we are holding our fourth meeting of the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan. Pursuant to the order of reference of February 10, 2009, this is a study of Canada's mission in Afghanistan.
We have witnesses today for the first hour and a half. We'll save half an hour at the end for committee business; we have some things to deal with.
From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, we have Yves Brodeur, assistant deputy minister, Afghanistan Task Force; and Gallit Dobner, deputy director, governance, rule of law and development, Afghanistan Task Force. And from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, we have Raf Souccar, deputy commissioner, federal policing; and Paul Young, superintendent, program manager, international peace operations branch, in Asia.
We're glad to have you here as we continue our meetings on the mission in Afghanistan.
I think you are probably all familiar with the process. You'll have a few minutes for some opening comments, and then we'll open for rounds of questions from the committee members.
Yves, would you like to start?
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank the members of this committee for inviting us this morning and giving us the opportunity to explain a bit about what we're trying to accomplish in Afghanistan on the policing side.
I'll start with a short introduction.
Mr. Chairman, if I go beyond my time, please wave at me and we can shorten that.
[Translation]
One of Canada's strategic policy priorities is strengthening the capacity of the Afghan National Security Forces. As part of this commitment, Canada supports efforts to strengthen the rule of law by building the capacity of the Afghan National Police to promote law and order in key Kandahar districts, supported by justice and corrections capabilities. The Afghan National Police are a linchpin in building a more secure but also better-governed Kandahar, as they are often the most visible face of the Afghan government across the country.
Today, I will provide you with an overview of the Afghan National Police, the international community's support to the ANP, and Canada's approach to police reform in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of the Interior oversees the Afghan National Police. The appointment of Interior Minister Hanif Atmar in October 2008 resulted in an acceleration of police reform in Afghanistan. With the support of the international community, Minister Atmar immediately established six high-level priorities to improve security and combat corruption. Canada has a good relationship with Minister Atmar, which was further strengthened when Canadian officials facilitated his visit to Kandahar in January 2009.
The ANP comprises six different forces: the Afghan Uniformed Police, the Border Police, the Civil Order Police, the Counter-Narcotics Police, the Criminal Investigation Police and the Counter-Terrorism Police. Given finite resources, the Government of Afghanistan and the international community agreed to a ceiling of 82,000 ANP for the country.
[English]
The ANP faces critical challenges, including a lack of sufficient training, equipment, and pay. Illiteracy, corruption, and reported substance abuse further erode their credibility and effectiveness. Moreover, the ANP's casualty rates far outstrip those of the military. In Kandahar, there's an insufficient number of police officers to ensure law and order, and the Ministry of Interior currently lacks the capacity to ensure strategic oversight and logistical support.
Canada is part of a larger international effort to support the development of the ANP. The United States is the leading player in police reform in Afghanistan. Its national focused district development program, known as the FDD, provides an eight-week basic training course to the Afghan uniformed police. To date, the FDD has been rolled out in 52 of 365 Afghan districts. The U.S. is implementing a similar training program for the Afghan border police.
In June 2007, the European Union launched the EU police mission in Afghanistan, known as EUPOL. The mission's mandate is to provide up to 400 police officers to mentor and advise the Ministry of Interior and senior policy officers at national, regional, and provincial headquarters. Currently, the mission has deployed approximately 300 mentors to Afghanistan.
The International Police Coordination Board, established in October 2006, is a multilateral mechanism that serves as a platform for the Minister of Interior and the international community to coordinate their efforts in a strategic and effective manner. Encouraged by the board's restructuring process in fall 2008, Canada became a member of the board in January 2009.
NATO is also looking to increase its support to police reform in Afghanistan. At the NATO summit in April, states agreed to create a NATO training mission to advance NATO efforts in this area. Similarly, the European Gendarmerie is considering options to contribute paramilitary expertise to current police training efforts.
Canada takes a comprehensive approach to building the capacity of the ANP by providing three main lines of support: mentoring and training, infrastructure and equipment, and salary. Mentoring and training is provided to the ANP in Kandahar through 30 civilian and approximately 40 military police mentors.
Our military police are part of the Canadian Forces-led police operational mentor liaison teams, POMLTs--a combination of military police and infantry who provide mentoring to the ANP at police substations, particularly in remote areas, with a view to providing the ANP with essential survivability skills. Canada's civilian police train and mentor the ANP in a range of civilian policing skills that promote law and order and effective force management. As of December 2008, 914--approximately 61%--ANP officers in key districts had completed basic training, and one unit was assessed as capable of near-autonomous operations.
Deputy Commissioner Raf Souccar will explain the role of Canadian civilian police in greater detail.
In addition to training and mentoring, Canada supports the development of the ANP through constructing and upgrading police infrastructure and providing police equipment to ANP in key districts. Infrastructure support is vital in providing secure and defensive structures to the ANP.
The contribution of the Canadian Forces special engineering team is vital in developing and monitoring infrastructure projects in Kandahar. Police infrastructure is supplied with standard living equipment, which raises officers' quality of life, increasing retention. As of December 2008, seven new police facilities were under construction. Canada also provides specialized police equipment to the ANP in order to increase their ability to conduct operations in Kandahar.
Canada provides salary support through the law and order trust fund for Afghanistan, or LOFTA, managed by the United Nations Development Programme. LOFTA allows the international community to support police and corrections officers' salaries. Foreign affairs minister announced $20 million in support of LOFTA during his March visit to Afghanistan, for a total Canadian contribution of close to $70 million since 2002.
Canada also supports capacity-building at the Ministry of Interior to ensure that these three lines of support are sustainable into the future. For instance, Canada has a civilian police adviser directly embedded within the Ministry of Interior to advise the minister on police reform and gender issues and to mentor his staff on policy research.
[Translation]
We recognize that the Afghan National Police force is part of a broader rule of law system that also requires justice and corrections sectors. Therefore, Canada also supports justice and corrections reform initiatives. This includes measures to improve the justice sector to facilitate a working court system in Kandahar City. This also includes improving conditions in Kandahar's main prison through training of corrections' personnel and upgrades to prison infrastructure.
In the months ahead, Canada will be focused on supporting the Government of Afghanistan's recent announcement to increase the number of ANP in secure areas of Afghanistan, including Kandahar.
To increase the impact of Canada's ongoing support to training, we are expanding the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) training centre. This training centre has been officially accredited by the Ministry of the Interior and will allow Canadian trainers to provide advanced training to the ANP, completing the basic training provided through the U.S.-led FDD program. We expect the expanded training centre will open its doors this fall.
We are also deploying additional Canadian civilian police to Afghanistan. We anticipate a total of 50 civilian officers on the ground by fall 2009. These officers will be placed in strategic mentoring and advisor positions in Kabul and Kandahar, including within the U.S. Combined Security Transition Command, the European Union Police Mission and the United Nations. This will allow Canada to maximize our impact on ANP development and enhance coordination with partner countries and multilateral organizations.
Thank you for your attention. I would now like to turn to Deputy Commissioner Raf Souccar.
:
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here with you this morning and to speak about Canada's, and particularly the RCMP's, international peace operation program, specifically our efforts in Afghanistan.
Today I have with me Superintendent Paul Young, officer in charge of operations for the RCMP's international peace operations branch. In fact, Paul returned in March 2008 from a one-year deployment in Afghanistan.
I'd like to start by giving you some background on the RCMP's international peace operations branch. The year 2009 marks 20 years of Canadian police contribution to international peace operations, which started with our first deployment in Namibia in 1989. Since then, under the RCMP's leadership more than 2,500 police officers from agencies across Canada have served on missions in 29 countries around the world.
[Translation]
The goal of Canada's International Police Peace Operations Program is to promote international peace and security by increasing social stability at the national level, using police-related expertise in countries experiencing or threatened by conflict and in failed or fragile states.
Through two decades of hard work and perseverance, Canadian police officers have made significant contributions to global stability, earning Canada an international reputation for leadership and professionalism. We are proud of those contributions.
[English]
The Canadian police arrangement is the policy framework that guides the Government of Canada’s response to foreign requests for police assistance. The Canadian police arrangement is a partnership between the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, which chairs the arrangement, Public Safety Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the RCMP. As part of its Canadian police arrangement responsibilities, the RCMP manages the deployment of police to international peace operations on behalf of the government.
[Translation]
The Canadian Police Arrangement supports the Government of Canada's commitments to build a more secure world, through Canadian participation in international peace operations, critical to longer term security system reform and conflict prevention efforts.
Today, there are approximately 160 Canadian police serving on 15 missions in a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan.
[English]
Our officers may be tasked with a variety of roles in each mission, but essentially they work as trainers and mentors to help build the capacity of indigenous police services.
Training and mentoring foreign police and providing humanitarian assistance around the globe develops our officers’ leadership and problem-solving skills. It also enhances their ability to interact with different cultures here in Canada. That’s certainly a positive outcome for them, for their police service, and for the communities in which they serve.
Crime today knows no boundaries and flourishes in fragile states where there's a lack of respect for the rule of law. By helping police in countries such as Afghanistan fight crime at the source, Canadian police officers help reduce the spread of that crime to our communities.
[Translation]
This is a win-win situation, because ultimately, a safer world means a safer Canada.
Now if I may, I'd like to tell you about our efforts in Afghanistan.
[English]
The role of Canadian civilian police is to assist in building the capacity of the Afghan National Police. In recognition of Canada's reputation for leadership in policing, our officers are often assigned to positions of influence in each of the operations. Since their first deployment to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in 2003, 60 Canadian police officers have served in Afghanistan.
Over the past six months, we have more than doubled our numbers in theatre, with plans to increase to 50 by the fall. Today, 31 officers from seven police services are assigned to four different operations in Afghanistan. These four operations include the Canadian-led Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, which you may hear me call KPRT; the American-led Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, or CSTC-Alpha; the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan, or EUPOL; and finally, the Canadian embassy in Kabul.
Our officers are involved in a variety of initiatives, from basic recruit training to advising senior leaders within the Afghan National Police and the Ministry of Interior on police reform. At the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, 24 officers are involved in training and mentoring the Afghan National Police as well as working on infrastructure development. Within the Combined Security Transition Team-Afghanistan, two inspectors hold influential positions, heading up program coordination for focused district development, which is the most widespread police training program in the country.
[Translation]
A chief superintendent at the European Union Police Mission is involved in developing policy on Afghan National Police Reform.
Finally, one officer at the embassy of Canada provides advice for the Canadian diplomatic core on police reform issues.
[English]
In the near future, a Canadian police commander at the rank of assistant commissioner will be posted to the embassy and will represent Canada on the International Police Coordination Board. This European Union police-led committee coordinates all Afghan National Police training, mentoring, and infrastructure development country-wide. It is critical that Canada has senior leadership within that forum.
Despite the many challenges Afghanistan presents, we have had numerous successes throughout the country. This includes training more than 1,000 Afghan National Police officers as well as teaching them valuable policing and survival skills. What’s more, Canadian police officers have consistently demonstrated their resilience, innovation, and courage in the face of these challenges.
One of our officers recently decided to tackle illiteracy among the Afghan National Police. Some Afghan National Police districts only have three or four police officers who are literate. They are often overburdened with administrative tasks. Our officer worked with Canadian and international partners to develop and implement a literacy program for the Afghan National Police that would bring them up to a grade 4 level over 18 months.
Another police officer designed courses for VIP protection and counter-kidnapping strategies.
Canadian police, in cooperation with U.S. and Canadian forces, were instrumental in helping to upgrade or build police stations and obtain uniforms, equipment, and vehicles. This has enabled the Afghan National Police to create a more permanent presence and create a stronger sense of security for citizens. In fact, Superintendent Paul Young, here with me, mentored the Kabul police chief, providing him hands-on support and guidance in the daily operations and restructuring of a police force serving more than four million people.
[Translation]
Regarding the future, the International Peace Operations Branch recently developed an extensive policing strategy and a deployment plan for Afghanistan, which we are in the process of implementing. Developed in consultation with Canadian police arrangement partners, the strategy supports a whole-of-government approach to assisting Afghanistan with security sector reform.
[English]
The overarching goal of the strategy is to ensure that Canadian civilian police, despite being a relatively small presence, are strategically placed in positions of influence to have a more sustained and significant presence. The strategy also outlines a clear command structure to promote better coordination and communication of the multiple Afghan National Police reform projects in which Canadian police are involved. This will enable our contingent to grow from 30 to 50 in short order while continuing to carry out operations effectively and efficiently. Given Afghanistan’s significant issues with cross-border criminal insurgent activities, Canadian police will begin working with the Afghan National Police in developing their border management capacity. The goal is to make the border more secure—for example, helping to disrupt the flow of narcotics in and out of Afghanistan, a country that produces 92% of the world’s opium supply.
In closing, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the conditions under which Canadian officers are working are difficult and the challenges they face are significant. Despite such conditions, however, our members speak with pride of the positive difference they are making.
[Translation]
Local authorities and our international partners are most impressed and very grateful for the significant effort and accomplishments of Canadian police. Our officers not only help the Afghan national police develop critically important policing skills, but they emphasize our values of integrity, honesty and professionalism.
[English]
This is helping to build a sustainable Afghan democratic society based on respect for the rule of law and human rights. The Afghan National Police are gaining ground slowly, gaining self-confidence and the respect of their community. This is key to their success. They will need a lot of support, training, and assistance before they will be able to stand on their own, but they have started on that path. It is a long-term project that will take time and patience on our part as well as on the part of the Afghans. Through our involvement over the past six years and into the future, we and the Canadian police community hope to have a lasting positive impact.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I'd like to thank you for inviting us to be here before you. We'll be happy to answer your questions.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for coming.
A number of us have been to Afghanistan on more than one occasion, and I can say first-hand that the work our police do there in terms of training has been quite remarkable under very difficult circumstances.
Weak public institutions feed insurgents. We keep talking about capacity building, and in the report of December 2008, which dealt with Canada's engagement in Afghanistan, we set out a number of baselines. We, of course, are changing this mission to focus on training both the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army. Back in December, I read about those baselines and our targets. Obviously they are of great concern. We keep talking about illiteracy and corruption and poor pay and all those things we recognize, and they're not getting any better. In the long run, they do not seem to be getting any better. We continually express concern about the fact that the police are the face of government in many of these local communities. They are the face. If people don't trust the police, you can't expect them to trust government officials.
As of August of last year, the percentage of ANP forces in key districts that were capable of planning and executing near-autonomous operations was zero. And yet in less than two years, we hope to have that be 80% of ANP. How are we going to make this quantum leap between zero and 80% with the resources that we have currently when in the last few years we haven't been able to advance that?
That would be my first question, through you, Mr. Chairman.
:
I will take the first crack at it, and then perhaps Assistant Commissioner Souccar may want to complement that.
It is a challenge--there's no doubt about it--to really bring this police force to a level of efficiency that would actually work for all of us. That's a really big issue, a big challenge. We're working hard on it. The benchmarks are ambitious. For us they are actually an objective that we really believe in, and we are putting the efforts and the resources in to achieve them.
I can say that actually, although this progress has been perhaps not as fast as we would like it to be, there really has been progress. This progress has been noted not only by us but by NATO, for instance, which I noticed, in its last report on Afghanistan, made a reference to the improvement of the Afghan National Police.
There's still a long way to go. We are putting more trainers in the field. The international community is getting its act together through this International Police Coordination Board. I would say the Minister of Interior, Mr. Atmar, is probably the most welcome change. He is quite determined. Some of you who have been to Afghanistan know him. You know how dedicated he is and how efficient. And we're supporting him with, for instance, a person who actually helps him on the policy front and also helps him in getting the structure right.
One of the first measures that he took when he got into his job was to fire a number of senior police officials for corruption. That's a pretty significant step forward.
The other thing he did, which is also very important, is ask for an augmentation of the seeding of police officers not only for the Kandahar area but for the country as a whole. He also has been extremely supportive in accelerating recruitment and training of the ANP police officers.
These are only a few examples of, I think, a situation that's moving forward in the right direction, but which we still need to work hard on. So we'll keep doing that. But you're right, the challenges are pretty important and pretty serious, and the ambitions are high.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm somewhat concerned by police coordination. Of course, I want to support what was said by my colleagues. We've seen a number of reports showing that the Afghan national army was progressing rather well, but that the Afghan national police was not doing as well.
Mr. Brodeur, in your presentation you referred to the International Police Coordination Board. This organization was created in October 2006, but Canada only joined in January 2009. Why such a long delay? It would seem you joined because you believed the 2008 restructuring was positive. I would like additional detail on this point.
I said coordination was a concern to me. There seems to be a great deal of friction between NATO and the European Union. Oftentimes, in Europe, NATO convenes meetings the European Union does not attend, and vice versa. The fact that these two entities are involved in the police file concerns me somewhat. I would like you to tell me whether there is a genuine attempt at coordination or not, and whether it works.
I would also like to know who commands and controls the Canadian police. I know that when it comes to the Canadian forces there is a Canadian commander within NATO. However, there is also a NATO command. At the end of the day, who makes the final decision regarding the police? It is important to know this type of thing.
I would also like you to tell me about the course and curriculum. Who determined the course for the last eight weeks? Are there courses on ethics? I would think it is important to stress these matters.
Of course, the reports we've received point to a high degree of corruption. I'm quite pleased to hear you say, Mr. Brodeur, that you have dismissed Minister Atmar. While we're discussing his case, can you tell me where he is from? I am trying to do some research on this. Was Mr. Atmar appointed by Mr. Karzaï?
I don't know how much time I have to answer these questions. In fact, they cover almost everything that we do. For the questions about the curriculum and the decisions concerning the deployment of Canadian police forces, I will turn the floor over to my colleague from the RCMP.
I'll begin by telling you about coordination, given that this is the crux of the matter. Coordination for police preparation currently takes place at many levels. First, there is what is called the JCMB. I apologize for using the English acronym, which means the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board. This group brings together all countries involved in Afghanistan, and has produced a charter that is used as a framework. This organization is responsible for setting the maximum number of policemen for the country, which is 82,000.
Under this system, there is another organization, the International Police Coordination Board, which you mentioned earlier and which we joined in January. Why in January 2009 rather than 2006? For reasons linked to the effectiveness of the group. Before we joined, this group was just getting started. It would be fair to say that before last year, the international community was perhaps not as coordinated as it should have been with regard to police training.
Key players were missing, including the United States, which provides most of the police training. Without the U.S., we were somewhat reluctant to participate in this initiative. I would also add to this the reasons that you mentioned, including the fact that EUPOL took some time to get off the ground.
Between the time the decision was made—and it was an excellent one—and the time it was implemented, a certain amount of time elapsed. We had work to do in Kandahar and at the national level, so we decided to go ahead, but still using an approach involving close collaboration with the Afghans.
The final decision concerning the number of police officers, recruitment and reforms belongs to the Afghans. It is up to the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Atmar, to make these decisions. Our role is not to make them in his stead, but to assist him, and that is what we are trying to do right now.
We also talked about the relations between the various players. We already mentioned the first two, and I will briefly list the others: the Afghan Minister of the Interior, CSTC-A, an American organization that coordinates training both for the police force and for the armed forces, EUPOL, that is the European police force, and NATO. NATO adopted a policy concerning police training at its most recent summit.
All of these people work together within this police coordination group of which we are now a member. This should help us achieve better coherence, not as concerns the objectives—because we already know where we want to go—but rather as concerns how to get there.
This is a slightly more difficult question. For example, Canada is involved at the PRT level. We use an approach by district rather than by province, whereas other countries proceed differently. We are trying to make a more coherent whole out of all of this.
You mentioned cooperation between NATO and the European Union. I will now put on my hat as the former NATO spokesperson to explain to you that this question is always somewhat complicated.
However, the Europeans decided to create a group of gendarmes, police officers, and send them to Afghanistan. Some 400 of these gendarmes will be assisting the Afghan police. By deploying them, the Europeans have clearly and firmly showed their intention of providing assistance quickly, whether as part of NATO or under the EU banner. In my opinion, we've already passed this stage.
:
A training centre is in the process of being completed at Camp Nathan Smith by the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar, which will go a long way to doing a number of things. It will provide us with the opportunity.... One of the challenges we have in Afghanistan is the situation of security and being able to get outside the wire, if you will, to provide the training and to return. Having our trainees on site will go a long way to allowing us to provide them with the training.
It becomes very important, because one of the first questions that were asked was with respect to the progress we're making in training and in being able to provide a semi-autonomous capability that has the components to plan an operation, staff an operation, and be able to carry out an operation. This is essentially one of the later goals. You provide the basic training and the basic skills, which then allow an individual, a commander, to identify and select staff--the right people in the right job--to be able to carry out an operation. So you plan an operation, you find the right people to staff it--and they have to have the basic skills--and then you carry out the operation.
This comes with a lot of challenges, because we are trying to professionalize a police force where, in a great number of instances, its members cannot read or write a report, so literacy becomes very important. Yves mentioned earlier the challenges with literacy, and I mentioned in my opening comments our efforts to get us there.
Ethics become very important. Integrity becomes very important. All these things are part of the training provided to the Afghan National Police, along with the basic combat first aid, survival methods, being able to search and seize, and being able to identify IEDs. All these components become very important because they are the pieces of the puzzle that together allow a commander to be able to plan, staff, and carry out an operation.
Essentially, we have to work with them, and we are working with the Afghan authorities.
The law you're talking about is the Shi’a Personal Status Law, which is an outrageous law, and that's been recognized by the President. It perhaps took some time before he made that recognition, but he did. We're confident that the Afghans will do what they have to do to change and modify, amend, repeal the segments of that law that are unacceptable.
We have a very capable person working within the justice ministry to help draft law. That's one thing. As well, to actually make sure that Afghan authorities are sensitized to the issues of gender and human rights when they draft laws, we have someone who works in the interior ministry, with Minister Atmar, to do the same thing. So there is work being done. We keep talking to the President, at the highest level, to make sure they do understand the importance of these issues and they take action.
I want to say as well that Canada was among the first countries to react, at a very high level, to the law you're talking about. I was with Minister Cannon when he spoke directly with Mr. Atmar and Mr. Spanta to tell them that this was totally unacceptable.
:
Thank you, Mr. Bachand.
I would prefer to answer in English, in order to be more clear and concise, if you don't mind.
[English]
On the structure, if you will, it's a whole-of-government approach in our efforts in Afghanistan, in everything that's done in Afghanistan. Key components of every area within government participate in order to plan a strategy.
In terms of the police component itself, law enforcement ultimately is accountable to the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police under the RCMP Act.
The head, if you will, of the civilian deployment in Kandahar is the regional representative of Canada in Kandahar, who is, at this point, Mr. Ken Lewis. To the extent of what we do, direction comes from him. As for how we go about doing it, that becomes a police decision, because we have the expertise as to how we can go about carrying out our duties.
In terms of structure within the police contingent in Afghanistan, as I mentioned in my opening comments, we are going to have a Canadian police commander in Afghanistan at the rank of assistant commissioner, who will be based out of Kabul, at the embassy, working alongside the head of mission. In participating in strategic meetings, in strategic discussions with the ambassador, and with the International Police Coordination Board, which is headed by EUPOL, he will go a long way in terms of having more influence in our strategy for police assistance in Afghanistan. He will head our police contingent in Afghanistan, if you will, working alongside the ambassador as well as the RoCK.
:
Yes, if I could very briefly, in case there are any fears or considerations about how we're training our Canadian police officers we're deploying abroad.
We use a very comprehensive process. Our police training over the last 12 months has moved from a two-week training process to approaching six weeks now. We have moved to a competency-based selection process where we go out to our police partners and we tell them what type of police officer we're looking for based on certain competencies, such as the ability to develop adult learning techniques in the field in very trying circumstances. That's coupled with a very comprehensive psychological profiling to ensure we're getting the right people.
We then bring them to Ottawa, where we conduct specific training activities within our organization, everything from cultural sensitivity to actual rule of law in the country and how our incident management intervention models will apply in a foreign land. We then integrate our training with various aspects of the Canadian Forces. We take part in the Maple Guardian training, which is taking place in May in Wainwright, Alberta. We also take part on the base in Petawawa. So we're integrating survival skills for our officers, which they absolutely need in that country, with the Canadian Forces.
On top of that, in a new iteration of the training we will be starting on Monday for a group of 18 police officers from Canada who are getting ready to go, we are now building in a comprehensive physical training regime. One police officer recently said to me he feels as if he's going back to Depot. We're going to build that in, knowing the hardships they're going to face on the ground in a province such as Kandahar.
So our training has moved from two weeks to just about six weeks. It's integrated. We are working with DFAIT and CIDA and CSC to integrate with their training. We offer our training to any Canadian civilian who's going to Afghanistan. We're growing, we're learning from our experience over there, and our number one goal is to send trained police officers who can do the job that's required, the mission, but more so to bring them home safely.