Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, committee members.
I feel my comments follow on well from Ms. Robson's.
I speak on behalf of the Mouvement autonome et solidaire des sans-emploi, or MASSE. We are a coalition of around fifteen organizations in Quebec spread across most of the province's regions. Most of our groups are particularly active on the issue of employment insurance, but a few also work in related fields, such as income security, social assistance, and workplace health and safety.
We offer a variety of services: individual support for those involved in a review process or a proceeding before an administrative tribunal, general legal information, and training and information sessions for other stakeholders, particularly in the union movement. Personally, I represent the Mouvement in dealing with political bodies and other stakeholders in the field.
Our network is fighting for a fair and universally accessible unemployment insurance system. Let me remind you that this has been an important goal of ours for a long time. Let me also remind you that the employment insurance program has been under attack since the 1990s and, since then, it has not been substantially improved, despite periods when the unemployment rate was quite low, particularly in recent years.
This background is important because, at the beginning of the crisis, we were very concerned about the government's capacity to meet the demand that was expected to be, and indeed was, very strong. MASSE had already begun to make representations regarding unusual delays in processing claims. Since November, several groups have spoken out about the situation. The 28-day period was being exceeded for an increasing number of files. We were concerned and wondered how Service Canada would manage to meet the high demand that was coming.
We also wondered what happened to claims filed before March 15. Were they processed, or were they late due to the subsequent influx of claims? This is a question we are currently asking the government.
In this context, we appreciated the announcement of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, or CERB, and more importantly, that it was assigned to the Canada Revenue Agency, which probably allowed for more efficient processing of claims. We applauded...
[Technical difficulty]
Pardon me, did someone say something?