Sir, we have already started to take some action. We have undertaken an initiative in our western region, which we call an integrated approach to dealing with hearings. What this means is that we have cross-appointed members from our immigration appeal division as well as our refugee protection division to hear cases in both the divisions.
We are able to do that especially in our western region, which is our smallest region, because first of all the numbers are small, and, secondly, we have to do hearings in several locations, such as Calgary. The office is in Vancouver, but we do hearings in Calgary, in Edmonton, and all the way to Winnipeg. So that would help us in using our existing resources more effectively. If a member from either division is going over to one of those sites to do an immigration appeal division, and there happens to be a pending refugee protection division claim, the member can take care of that matter.
Secondly, in our Montreal office we have looked at a simplified approach to information gathering, which will assist us in bringing forward the claims more rapidly. What we discovered was that our partner agencies, CIC and CBSA, were completing forms and information on the same candidate, and then the IRB was the third to come along and basically gather the same data. So we are looking at a simplified approach to getting information so that the cases move forward more quickly.
The last thing I would say with respect to efficiency is that we expect as appointments are being made to the board that we will have an issue with training members. We're looking at assigning resources to train members so that they can start to become decision-makers as quickly as possible.