Thank you, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and the rest of the committee, for the opportunity to be here this afternoon. I accompany Dr. Adriana Bara, who is the national director of CNEWA in Canada.
I will take the opportunity to offer some introductory comments to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. I believe that Dr. Bara has already prepared and submitted to the committee a very specific report. We certainly welcome this opportunity to share our experiences with the committee and to answer any questions that the committee may have.
The Catholic Near East Welfare Association was organized, founded, by Pope Pius XI in 1926. Since that time, as we approach our centennial celebration now, the Catholic Near East Welfare Association has as its specific mandate to give humanitarian and pastoral assistance to the Catholic churches of the Eastern rites, the Eastern Catholic Churches, of which there are 23.
When we do this, the assistance that we give—be it humanitarian or pastoral—is given as we accompany the local church in a particular area that has been affected by some kind of very difficult situation. It's certainly similar to what we are all aware of right now with regard to the earthquakes in parts of Turkey and Syria.
We have recently given assistance to Ukraine and Lebanon over the last two or three years. We work with the local church and all of the representatives there in providing the kind of humanitarian assistance that the local people—especially where we are working with our offices on the ground—want us to provide with their very specific needs. In this case—