Thank you.
Its mandate was to essentially do what we're doing today, which is to provide a four-element program: scholarships, mentorships, fellowships and public interaction programs. We were to provide our scholarships as doctoral scholarships in the social sciences and humanities. The reasoning at the time was.... I believe it remains even more true today—we are awash in doctoral scholarships in the fields of applied science, technology, engineering and so on. However, what's lacking is adequate support in the social sciences and humanities, which are, arguably, the backbone of a democratic society and an advanced society: studying human rights, civil liberties, foreign policy and Canada's place in the world. These issues don't get studied in technology school.
That was the rationale behind it and essentially our program. Where's the value added? Why is a Trudeau scholarship different from any other? The big element is our leadership program, which takes scholars out of their comfort zone and introduces them, through mentors, fellows and other people, to aspects of Canada and the world that they would not otherwise be introduced to. We call that “engaged leadership”. We believe that adds a certain value to a Trudeau scholarship that isn't necessarily obtained in other cases.
We've done 295 of those scholarships. They're very substantial, very highly regarded and very sought-after. We had many hundreds of applications for a dozen openings last year.