Mr. Chair, perhaps I can just begin my remarks by indicating that the Immigration and Refugee Board is responsible for undertaking its own measures. This was not an undertaking of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in terms of actually looking at measures to achieve certain savings.
My understanding, if I can just comment on the IRB's decisions in terms of offices, is that they offer hearings in Montreal since they closed the Ottawa office, and that move was based on the number of hearings that take place. They basically are looking across their network and trying to rationalize, certainly from the point of view of where the numbers are, and they feel they can actually meet their requirements. It's not unusual in other locations that people have to travel a certain distance to attend hearings.
It would really be more appropriate for the Immigration and Refugee Board, which is not present today, to reply to that question.