Right now, one of the bigger challenges we have is.... For the first couple of weeks, for example, we had no access to our files; our files were in a place we couldn't get to. We presently have office space in what used to be the reception area of the mission. Some other offices are in what used to be the garage area of the mission.
All of the staff quarters where the officers lived have been affected one way or the other. We have some that are in better shape, but people are actually sharing accommodation because there is not enough accommodation. The Department of Foreign Affairs is presently working on sending 50 containers, which will be set up as accommodations. Some of our locally engaged staff lost their houses, so 13 of them are living in tents, for example, that have been provided by the Canadian government. All of those issues are difficult.
There are a lot of people who are trying to get to the different missions, so crowd control outside, so that we know who is coming in and who's going out, is also difficult right now. Obviously, the trauma of officers and local staff who have had to deal with their own situation is also there, which was why we sent quickly some temporary duty officers to support.
From a processing perspective, there's also the aspect of criminal records not being accessible. We've had to set up a mechanism, not to say that nobody could come to Canada, but to make sure that from a public safety perspective we were meeting our requirements. So we set up these processes to permit us to move forward.
Obviously, because more or less 40% of past applications have historically been refused, because of bona fides or people saying “this is my child”, but it's not, we've also had to make sure that, while being flexible, we don't forget that this is a movement that's difficult to deliver.