Thank you very much.
I'm very pleased to bring forward this motion. It's very straightforward and very brief, so I don't think I even need to read through it. Basically, it's asking that we have the Minister of Foreign Affairs and appropriate officials who he would choose to bring to brief the committee on the federal government's efforts to ratify the International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.
The reason for this is that Canada actually distinguished itself at the UN in terms of the engagement with organizations representing persons living with disabilities. It was a major player in the adoption of that covenant in mid-December. And we're now coming up to the window in which there is the opportunity to ratify. I'm very much hoping that we can push forward to remain in the forefront in a leadership role.
So I would urge the support of committee members. I know we've got a lot of other business to do, but it's really a straightforward information-seeking session by ourselves to try to advance this agenda, which is very much in keeping with what we're doing.