I'm going to answer that question, Madam Chair, because the organization of the department is managed by the deputy minister.
To begin with, thank you for your recommendation Mr. El-Khoury.
I also pointed out that we were experiencing lots of crises at IRCC. There were the recent responses to what has been happening in Afghanistan and Ukraine; not so many years ago, there were crises in Syria and Haiti.
We closely reviewed the committee's recommendations to see whether we were properly organized and equipped to respond to the crisis. While looking at your recommendations, we told ourselves that there might be lessons to be drawn not only for the department, but also for our work with other partners: Global Affairs Canada, the Privy Council Office, the Department of National Defence, etc. We are looking at our structure, and what's needed in order to have a team with the right experience to get the job done.
Every crisis will have its own specific aspects and require a particular response; at the same time, some factors are common to all crises. The question is knowing how we can organize ourselves, as a department, to do a better job of responding to a crisis.
A review of options was carried out. There was some brainstorming within the department ensure that we would be in a better position to respond to crises and learn lessons from what we experienced.
That period was extremely difficult and chaotic. It's hard to compare our Afghanistan response to how we responded to other crises in different circumstances. The fact that the Taliban invaded and took control of Kabul made people's movements extremely difficult. It's still difficult. That's why working with partners in the region continues to be extremely important.
All of which is to say that we are examining our organization in order to be in a position to respond to crises, while continuing with the operational work of the department at a pace that will enable us to continue our efforts.
Thank you very much for your question. It was very apt.