The voices that are being brought forth are the ones that would not otherwise be heard, so I think that's very important to know about the program. The voices you're talking about, that want to defend the legislation of the government, are already being defended by the government. I mean, that voice is already there. The government gets advice from these groups and presents their voice in defending the challenge being brought forth by the voices that do not have the means to otherwise bring forth that issue. The government, if it chooses to, can certainly fund these groups, in addition to their own lawyers, to bring that extra voice in its own defence or supporting the government.
What we're saying is that the program is providing funding for the group that's challenging the law, saying that it isn't going far enough, it isn't being inclusive enough. I think that's very important to know, that this is the fundamental principle of what the court challenges program is about.
In terms of the membership, the program does outreach on a regular basis to try to include and get more groups from the various communities across Canada. It fluctuates in terms of numbers, but over the years it has gone up and down depending on interest in the program of one or another particular issue. But the program is always open to new membership from the very groups that are being targeted, if you will, and are supposed to benefit from this program.
In terms of opportunity for the program, like the evaluation said, the court challenges program of Canada, the corporation, was doing its job. It is serving Canadians and was serving the mandate of the government.
So we would love to see what we did or what was wrong. We would have loved to have had the opportunity to respond to any of the concerns, to have provided additional information that the government may have wanted before making any decisions about cutting the program.
Where was our opportunity to really provide—