Thank you for your question, Ms. Mendes.
This week, I met the senior citizenship judge, Mr. Springate. We discussed the challenges we're facing. We've sent certain judges from other parts of the country to Montreal to preside over citizenship ceremonies. I have informed the committee that I will be recommending judicial appointments to the board to Cabinet very soon . I hope we'll be able to fill the vacant positions in Montreal and Vancouver so that we can conduct more ceremonies.
The backlog in processing citizenship files is one of our operational challenges. I'll invite the deputy minister to comment on that subject.