Thank you for your comments, and thank you for the question.
As indicated in the outline, we as an organization do not think that the proposed requirement of four years out of six years is too much. We actually do welcome the increase. Again, this is an immigrant community that's positing this. These are people of very diverse ethnic backgrounds and of a very broad range of countries of origin who are strongly supporting this. It's for the very reasons that you and others today have already indicated, which are that we came to this country, we made a strong effort to say we wanted to be Canadian, we put our time in and worked really hard, we love it, and we view ourselves as Canadian.
My father taught me something when I was a kid that I'll never ever forget. Born and raised in the Middle East, he came here by boat with $200 in his pocket, really hasn't stopped working in the last 45 years, and continues to work today. That's the mentality and that's the attitude shared by many others in this room. He happened to be from Egypt, and he always said he didn't leave Egypt for Egypt but left Egypt for Canada. I was always inspired and motivated by that.
But again, on the logistics front, recognize this. We are saying this is a requirement for citizenship, not to arrive at the borders, not to apply for refugee status, not to obtain permanent resident status. It's for citizenship. You can work here, you can study here, but if you want to get that Team Canada jersey, if you want to be on the team and be a Canadian citizen, we would like to see this commitment. You benefit from it and we benefit from it.