Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
We on the committee have had a discomfort ever since Jean-Guy Fleury was shovelled out the door and forced to resign because they made a non-partisan appointment process partisan, which is really too bad, because it was one of the great accomplishments of previous parliaments to depoliticize the appointment process to the board. So while that process is in place, there will be people rightfully concerned about the impartiality.
Mr. Dolin, you were here at the time we passed the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and you were here when we put the immigration appeal division in there. You were here during all the years that the members of this committee fought to have that happen, including the Conservative members--until they got into government.
I remember when we were discussing it with the previous minister, Minister Volpe. He said that once he got the backlog down he would make that happen. Unfortunately, under this Conservative administration, the backlog has gone up, which really is a problem. Instead of fixing the system, they have created a crisis in the system.
Notwithstanding all that, Mr. Dolin, you are somebody we know, or that committee members at the time knew. I dare say you're probably the only member on the board who had a recommendation from the chair of the committee as well as all the critics and the members who worked with you to put you in that position. So it's the ideal situation of a totally non-partisan appointment, which is very gratifying.
My question to you is this. What is the backlog right now at the appeal division?