I apologize.
We've already furloughed staff and depleted our reserves, and we need financial help just to emerge from the pandemic. We do know that we are not as important as front-line health care workers. We do not operate in life-and-death situations, but we do know the important role that sport plays in the lives of millions of Canadians for their health and their mental health, for their wellness and, importantly, for joy.
Canada's sports system is a collaboration between government and NSOs. We are already a delivery partner of the federal government, with our clubs and local sports being part of that system. With your support, we can stand together to ensure that our system does not fail.
We are seeking a dedicated stream of funding to replace the net revenues self-generated by our events, which would be reinvested into our grassroots sport. Let me share an example.
In March, the World Figure Skating Championships were mere days away from taking place in Montreal when COVID hit. That cancellation meant that $6 million in legacy funding for local area figure skating clubs in Quebec didn't happen. This is just one example of the types of events that were meant to take place in the country this year and support all of our grassroots programming.
Our system is not focused entirely on high-performance athletes. It is also on the little girl hitting the field or the ice for the first time or the young boy competing in his first bonspiel. We want to partner with the federal government to keep grassroots sport alive and preserve the healing power of sport at the community level for kids and for Canadians at a time when we feel they need it the most.
In closing, I encourage you to think of Canada's sport system as a tree. COVID has forced our organizations to trim the branches to keep it alive. We can trim, but if the roots die, it won't be there when we are out of this storm. Planting a brand new tree will take years, and it won't be there when people need it the most. Rebuilding the sport system will mean we've lost decades of growth for amateur sport and sport development, so the decisions made right now will impact generations of both amateur sport and our high-performance athletes.
Thank you.