Thank you, Madam Co-Chair.
Ms. Jama, I think I'll start with you.
As you know, our committee was given a fairly broad mandate from the House to cover five areas. Only one of these is actually going to turn into law. We're studying the issue knowing that in March of next year mental illness as an underlying condition will come into effect in 2023, but the others are fairly broad.
When this committee got under way in April and we had our first couple of meetings, it felt right away like we were doing a fairly rushed job. The House initially gave us a deadline of June 23, and I think it very quickly dawned upon members of this committee that this was just going to be an impossible task. We've now extended it to October 17.
In terms of your testimony today, I remember that in our earlier conversation you were talking to me about the idea of pausing or slowing down. What I'd like you to tell us as a committee is why we should pause or slow down this conversation. Can you expand on that a little more? Could you suggest ways in which this committee could further engage with various members of the disability community over the remainder of the spring, the summer and the fall, just so we have as broad a cross-section of voices as possible?