Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee members for the opportunity today. My name is Kristy House and I'm the manager of welfare and industry at Equestrian Canada. With me, as you know, is Richard Mongeau, executive director of Cheval Québec.
Today we are here representing tens of thousands of working horses and thousands of equine businesses currently facing severe animal welfare issues and economic devastation due to the impact of COVID-19.
I'll pass it to Richard to make some opening remarks on the impacts to the industry.