Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and I promise I too will be very brief.
I would like to begin by thanking you, ladies and gentlemen, for inviting me to make a presentation before you today.
My name is Tom Rosser, and I am the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
DFO agrees with all the recommendations put forth in the 2015 Fall Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development as they pertain to strategic environmental assessment. We've taken steps to ensure full compliance with her recommendations.
For example, DFO has recently updated its internal guidance documents and processes as they concern strategic environmental assessment and has undertaken a significant training and awareness initiative across the organization.
Finally we've created a new web page and posted outstanding public statements for detailed strategic environmental assessments that were completed during the period of the commissioner's audit, which was January 2011 to December 2014.
Going forward, DFO is committed to full compliance with the directive.
I'll leave my remarks there. Thank you.