Thank you. I will begin and Joanne will add her comments.
Joanne and I, as a member of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, were both part of the drafting and the consultative process that occurred over the summer months. I'd have to say that to date, 22 countries have a national action plan. After 10 years, it's very little, but we're grateful that Canada is one of those countries. The consultative process was extremely welcome, even if it was over a very short period of time. The views of civil society were welcomed by government, and I think the plan was tremendously improved over that period.
What I can say in terms of the effectiveness of the plan is that effectiveness will rest on the willingness and the determination of the departments to implement the plan's various actions. Given that the plan was adopted in consultation with various government departments, there is definitely a willingness there; however, one of the concerns is that there is no dedicated funding for the implementation of this plan.
By having no dedicated funding, you thus effectively rely on the willingness of the various departments to either dedicate internal funds or reallocate funds, which is often very difficult in a time of drastic cuts or limited funding. That will be a challenge, I think, but hopefully it will be re-evaluated as we evaluate this in the coming years.