Fundamentally, if one looks at the court system in Canada, the average consumer complaint against a bank or financial service firm is very small. In banking, they're under $10,000. It's not economically viable to use the courts for the resolution of these complaints. It's for that reason that 16 years ago there was a sense that an alternative to the courts was needed.
With an independent body like ours, the value proposition is really four things. First, it helps the consumer to articulate a complaint, because often he doesn't know what's gone wrong. Second, it assists the consumer in investigating the problem, providing not just a review of the paper file but also an actual person who digs in and tries to understand what's gone wrong. Third, it provides for economic analysis of the losses incurred by the client. Fourth, it gives the consumer a power of enforcement, allowing him to work with the firm to see that compensation is paid without having to resort to the courts.