Good afternoon, everyone.
I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number seven of the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence. Today's meeting is taking place in the hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of September 23, 2020. Proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. As you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking, rather than the entirety of the committee.
I wish to bring it to your attention that we have a total of six witnesses on the docket for today. I will prewarn you that I will be particularly strict when it comes to time issues and your allocation of time for questions. I think it's really important. All of these witnesses have something to contribute to our study, and I want to say thank you to them for joining us today.
I'll welcome our visitors with short bios. We have Carole Estabrooks, adjunct professor at the school of public health at the University of Alberta. She was chair of the Royal Society of Canada's working group on long-term care. Its members include other esteemed members we have heard from. The working group issued a policy briefing in June of 2020 that outlined the deficiencies in our long-term care sector and recommendations for action.