Merci, Mr. Chair.
Slide 4 of the deck presented to the committee outlines the aspects of my mandate that I alluded to in my opening. I can reiterate some of the key points.
The areas would be to represent the ministers in pressing important issues internationally as a spokesperson for the ministers in international fisheries issues. What issues internationally would we be pushing? We certainly would be pushing responsible fishing practices. I have taken leadership roles in advocating strong governance to advancing RFMOs. One of the roles Canada is playing is in developing a model RFMO so that it can be adopted and used as a tool around the world.
If there are various irritants between our country and other countries that need to be addressed at a higher level rather than at the level of officials for many issues, there is a mandate for us to be representative in that particular role at a high level of intervention. The generalities are outlined here: to advance our fishery management; to encourage, by responsible management, countries around the world to sign on to UNFA, which is a significant instrument or tool in responsible fisheries management; to encourage RFMOs who are a part of NAFO to adopt them; to enhance reinforcement and, in the process, to shape behaviour.
The only thing that ultimately gets results is shaping behaviour and making nations responsible for what they're doing. That's an issue that needs to be advocated, whether it's by me as the ambassador or whether it's through lobbying, or whatever it is. I will use as persuasive terms as needed to achieve the message. Sometimes we require very persuasive messages; sometimes we require more diplomatic messages. When we have a lot of like-minded countries, we can get these together and form a network to achieve our goals. There's a whole variety of things that I could certainly elaborate on at length. I don't want to belabour the point unless there's a follow-up question.