Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll direct my question to Senator Boisvenu, who is to be commended for his tireless advocacy for and support of victims.
I want to provide you, Senator, with an opportunity to elaborate on a point you made respecting the need to make the victims ombudsman independent and report directly to Parliament. You briefly touched upon it. Could you elaborate on that?
Second, do you see any need for or benefit to making the ombudsman permanent, as opposed to being housed in the Department of Justice? I know this is an issue that was brought forward by our former colleague, Sylvie Boucher, by way of a private member's bill in the last Parliament.