Thank you for that. I'll just quickly say that I get a chance to interact with Dr. Caron quite regularly, so thanks for that. I'll say hi.
I think the one thing that's really important to, I guess, emphasize is that our elders are in the older age ranges. Included in our elders are our language keepers and our knowledge keepers. They are a precious, irreplaceable cultural resource. I think that is part of the reason there's a lot of anxiety in different communities—urban, rural, remote—about trying our best to protect our elders from COVID-19 as best we can.
Part of my response is based on the B.C. context in which I'm working. Communities themselves and groups of communities and nations have their own kinds of pandemic plans that they would like to enact in order to slow, reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. That includes very much protecting elders, and it ties into some of the testimony you already heard earlier today, even in the session before this one, around providing basic comfort measures, the ability to maintain cleanliness and sanitation in the homes regarding the virus. Then we have pure mental health, things that would help everybody, but in this case, older people's and our elders' mental health. We're quite concerned about the lack of ability to connect with one another during this time, being physically distant while remaining emotionally and spiritually connected.
As you say, I think it sounds like a lot of money but once it gets distributed or allocated it will be interesting to see the communities' ideas for how they would like to invest those funds.