Thank you very much to all of our presenters. Thanks for taking the time to come forward to the committee and for providing us with some very valuable insight and information.
I have a couple of questions. Due to the time limitation, perhaps I'll just pose them, and then all of you can answer.
But first I have a question for you and your organization, Ms. Bose. I had a chance to glance briefly at your report on immigrant and visible minority women across the country, on some of the barriers they face. Probably all of my colleagues around the table here will know, as I've mentioned it quite frequently, that I think the issue of foreign credentials recognition really has to do with our country's future economic prosperity and productivity. You were exactly right, I think, to describe it as a brain waste. So many talented individuals come to Canada with these hopes, these dreams, and these aspirations only to find a significant number of frustrations and challenges.
One motion that was put forward in 2005 was for the creation of a foreign credential recognition secretariat that would be able to combine all 17 different government departments under one roof, to ensure the proper focus and mandate in order to reach out to some of these new immigrants, to ensure that their credentials would be recognized, to ensure that they would be accredited, and that, most importantly, they would be integrated into our workforce.
So the secretariat was implemented, and then we went into an election campaign. Unfortunately, with the change and so forth, the Conservatives, who had said they would actually create an agency...but this is a non-partisan issue, really, in that it affects many Canadians.
As you mentioned in your speech, there hasn't been the creation of this particular agency. I wanted to get your perspective, or your organization's perspective, on what you think the mandate or governance or infrastructure of an agency like this should look like in order to benefit the kind of people you're talking about.
Secondly, to all of the witnesses here, we are doing an employability study. If you were to make one recommendation for us to incorporate and put forward, one recommendation for the government to be able to take action to ensure that we reduce the barriers for individuals to get employed in Canada, what would it be?