Not surprisingly, I disagree with that characterization, Mr. Chairman. I would point out there are a very limited number of IRB or Refugee Protection Division offices and limited capacity to hold hearings across Canada. If you are a claimant in Victoria, you have to go to Vancouver. If you're a claimant in Edmonton, you go to Calgary. If you're a claimant in Winnipeg, you go to Calgary or Toronto. If you are in Quebec City, you go to Montreal. In Halifax, you go to Montreal. Ottawa is two hours from Montreal, four hours from Toronto, so it's more approximate to places where there are robust resources at the Refugee Protection Division.
Last year we only had about 500 new claims being processed at the RPD in Ottawa. With the 65% reduction in the number of new claims as a result of refugee reform, I would anticipate that we'll be seeing only about 200 claims a year here in Ottawa. We simply can't justify the infrastructure of a permanent office based on that number of claims. Although as Ms. Sitsabaiesan has intimated, in order to address the legacy claims that are here in Ottawa, we have worked with the IRB to extend the closure of the office in Ottawa until the end of this year, and the IRB is looking at other administrative options as well.