Perhaps I could begin on the descriptive front. The Northern Projects Management Office, I would say, is now established. It was brand new in 2010, built in 2011, and has been proving itself and building its clientele and its results since that time. To characterize it, it is about 10 people distributed across the north, headquartered in Yellowknife. Its mandate is to facilitate and coordinate federal participation in environmental assessment reviews in the four environmental assessment processes across the north. They do that effectively, with objectivity, timeliness, transparency, and clarity. We are pleased to say that all the reviews to date have been timely. We get substantive feedback that it's transparent from private sector, aboriginal, and territorial stakeholders. They have great confidence in it. I think that is an accomplishment.
Recently, they've gone beyond that. They are pathfinders and issue solvers as well. Rooted in the communities, working closely with either the infrastructure or resources that are going through environmental assessment, they help take issues apart and move things forward. They've established a new practice in the last couple of years that moves engagement ahead of the environmental assessment process in regional advisory groups. If a project is looming, and the community is interested, and territorial governments are considering how to participate or what the objectives should be, they pull people together in an advisory group that pre-assesses the assessment. What are the issues going to be? It builds relationships, it builds trust, and it builds communication.
I would like to point out that in the north the regulatory regimes aren't environmental only. They assess environmental, social, and economic impacts. The aboriginal people are co-decision-makers. Our office is able to pull that all together before going into the process, thereby building confidence, and that contributes to the timeliness.