Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses for appearing to talk about a very important issue.
Mr. Fowler, I'd like to direct my questions to you. Thank you for appearing in front of our committee.
You have decades of experience within the Government of Canada as a deputy minister and as an ambassador. The first question I'd like to ask you relates to the second part of the bill, which is really about improving supports for families of people who have been taken hostage. Can you talk a bit about your experience and how the machinery within the department and the machinery between the department and central agencies could have been improved?