Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are other ways of getting information, and we will be conducting investigations. We will be gathering information from all sources. If they don't co-operate, it's to their detriment because we will be coming to a finding of fact based on the information that we collect.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The CSR counsellor was embedded within the Department of Global Affairs and International Trade. There was a counsellor and, I believe, one other employee. We have a much larger human resources foundation. We are an ombudsperson office, and an ombudsperson office carries with it a number of internationally recognized attributes, one being that it's arm's length and independent from the department.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have resources available to us. We have a permanent budget and we have money that comes off cycle. To date, we've had enough resources to do the work we needed to do to get set up. We have made our case on resources and are going through the regular channels with that. That is in the government process right now.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We currently have.... We own six full-time positions, and those are filled. We also have a number of secondi. At the moment, I believe, working full time on this innovation, on the creation of CORE, there are 10.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When I was put in place in 2019, in May, the minister at the time indicated that he would be seeking my advice on the expansion of sectors. As you know, there was a change in government and a change of ministers, and the minister has not sought my advice on that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Chair, I would like to rephrase the question. We have been in preparation and creation stage. This is very necessary for a brand new office. It's not that we haven't been able to; we realize how important it is to get this right, so we've been taking the time to create it. That's how I would respond to that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely. Our operating procedures in all our work will be contextualized with respect to the area we're working in.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's been three years since the government announced the idea of an ombudsperson, but I've been in my role for a much shorter period of time. We're the first of our kind in the world. No other country has tried to do this, so it's very exciting. We're working with a blank slate, and because Canada's reputation in the world is so strong and so important to Canadians, we knew we had to take the time to do this right.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. When I say that we have the tools we need in our order in council, we have the ability to respond to complaints, initiate reviews, conduct investigations—either collaboratively or independently—engage in mediation, and make remedial and other recommendations and reports.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In our operating procedures, on which we have spent a number of months consulting with our government stakeholders, civil society stakeholders and industry stakeholders, we have timelines. There are timelines in terms of responding when a complaint comes in and various other timelines.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that's very true. Our operating procedures will require us to make sure that it's admissible, so that's the first triage it comes through. Then, as I said, we have different aspects to our mandate. We have an aspect to mediate, so we can look at mediating. We can do early prevention with companies to try to prevent things before they happen and intervene early so that we can do that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I've worked in the oil and gas industry for 17 years and know first-hand that what CORE is set up to do is good for business. As part of our mandate, we provide advice to companies, and again, that allows us to be preventative. We can provide advice that allows them to be preventative.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Number one, our focus is on the actions of specific Canadian companies. Our focus is on companies, not countries, and on engaging in a way that protects and promotes human rights. We're focused on companies. For guidance on matters like this, if there's an issue with a foreign country, we are fortunate to be able to draw on a wide range of expertise from the PCO, from Global Affairs Canada and from the minister's office.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We've made our statement, which we consider to be very important, and now we will be integrating that into every aspect of our work. We'll also be putting in place, just like our gender-based strategy, a racial strategy.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Neither am I.