Official Languages committee  Maybe I can just speak a little bit to express entry, how that works, and how that gets to exactly that question. Under the ranking scheme the minister talked about, there are a certain amount of points that can be accorded to somebody who has expressed interest in coming to Canada and is in the pool.

Official Languages committee  Thank you for the question. There are actually about 22,000 people in the pool. They are the eligible individuals who may be invited to file an application to come to Canada as permanent residents. It is also true that about 270 people provided French-language test results. We are currently working on the definition.

Official Languages committee  Up to 136 for—

Official Languages committee  There are more than nine levels.

Status of Women committee  If I may, Madam Chair, I will answer that.

Status of Women committee  We would be delighted to provide stats. It's a relatively new system. It's only been operating since January 1, but what we know so far we'd be happy to share.

Status of Women committee  Good attempt. Yes, it's my branch that has led on the policy development leading to express entry. Express entry, as a system, was designed to be gender neutral, applying that GBA lens as we did through the policy development process. There is no question that it is also designed to target those individuals who have expressed an interest in coming to Canada who have the skills and aptitudes in need by the labour market.

Status of Women committee  Maybe I'll speak quickly to some of the initiatives that are in place at the Government of Canada level led by Status of Women Canada and then take a little look at CIC's experience with gender-based analysis. There is a departmental action plan that applies across the Government of Canada.