Thank you, Chair.
I'll try to answer one of the question asked previously. Do we think it's a bad departure from the status quo? I think it is, because right now we would at least have the right of appeal on two separate levels after the determination of validity at the court of first instance, but this eliminates that. Whatever the tribunal says about validity, it solidifies our rights and takes away our rights of appeal. So I don't think it's any better than the status quo. The question back would be, would Canada agree to have a truly independent outside third party determine the validity of these claims? I think that's what we're looking for.
We can't get over the fact that the judges are appointed by Canada. So if we had a truly independent party determining at least that part of it, maybe the tribunal people could come in later to help assess what compensation was fair, because they have the knowledge and background of the history and other awards in Canada. But I don't think the same person should do the validity and the compensation determination.
I would like to see a process where neither Canada nor any of its judges have any stake in determining the validity. Then I think it would be an improvement over the status quo. We can't speak for other nations, but we don't think it's an improvement.