It's a very good point. Thank you so much for the question.
Yes, it is true that there is a 250 per year visa program for human rights defenders. Journalists are one of eight categories that it is intended to serve. It's an excellent introduction to a world in which we have these kinds of designated streams of visas for people at risk.
The challenge is the scale of the need for journalists who are fleeing persecution as contrasted with the number of visas available. We were joking earlier today as I was preparing for these comments that we have managed to secure one and a half visas through that program for our Afghan cohort of journalists who are fleeing persecution at the hands of the Taliban. The half is because we're not entirely sure whether one of the journalists is going to be recommended, but we think so. The remaining 248 and a half spots were justifiably taken up by human rights defenders and their family members who were also escaping Afghanistan, as was true for the majority of cases this year.
What this tells us, working to protect journalists in these kinds of environments and to provide them with options for safe passage and asylum, is that there's an acute need for an evergreen program of the kind that the Dutch government is currently working to put up. The Dutch government is working on a 50-visa program plus provision for family members. This is something that has been recommended by their Parliament. Canada is currently co-chairing the Media Freedom Coalition with the Government of the Netherlands, which seems like a real opportunity for Canada to show leadership by working out a program of emergency visas specifically for journalists and their families and also encouraging other member states within the coalition to do the same, considering the acute situation that we face.
Thank you.