Basically, the Paris Principles--which we can certainly provide to you--are a set of standards to make sure that a commission is, for example, independent of government, so it's not an arm of government and it can act independently. It has to be national in scope; so the provincial and territorial commissions would not be eligible for accreditation, only the Canadian, as a national organization, would. It must have a broad mandate, rather than a narrow, specific interest. It must be autonomous in terms of its budget and have adequate funding in order to resource it. The appointment process is to be pluralistic, open, transparent, and without undue interference. There are a number of rules like that to ensure that they have a broad enough mandate.
A fundamental requirement is that the commission has to be founded in legislation or in the constitution. There has to be a sound legal framework. So it's not a committee that's simply established by motion; it has to have a legislative base.