It launched in the summer. It's an engagement process. It's called their modernization process. It has five, I think, agenda items on it, including transparency around ownership data and foreign ownership. Number five on the list is licensing policy without any specific or concrete mention of what the issue to be addressed in relation to licensing policy is.
I would say that the people conducting the engagement process seem to be making a very concerted and genuine effort to reach people who are often not involved in these kinds of processes. They're not just going to the standard advisory committees and to the major stakeholders; they're making a real effort at the community level and in the various industry sectors. I think that part is positive.
The part that is a bit disturbing to those of us who have been involved in this for some time is that, again, they kind of seem to be starting from square one. They seem to not really have any kind of foundation in terms of the work that's already done, particularly the extremely important work done by this committee but also by the provincial government.
The provincial government has come out very strongly endorsing development of an owner-operator licensing regime. That's built into the new coastal marine strategy that the B.C. government has announced. The Premier of B.C. has written to the Prime Minister saying that it's time to transition to an owner-operator licensing model. The major alliance of coastal first nations in British Columbia has endorsed the transition to an owner-operator licensing model.
It's very discouraging that this modernization engagement exercise doesn't seem to start from that place. It seems to go back to even before the first FOPO report and ask basic questions about what's going on in the fishery.