Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, Mr. Théberge.
My father is blind, and as such, is very familiar with the Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille. I have a few questions to ask you, particularly concerning financing.
You offer a vast array of services to the blind and you even help them get around their neighbourhood. You show them how to use their cane to step down from a sidewalk and how how to listen for things; like it or not, they develop other senses.
My father listens frequently to audio books. You provide audio books to the blind. However, books like this are in short supply and the selection isn't great, or so I've been told. I was there when a young woman brought him some audio books and she talked to me about financing. The blind have certain needs, and only specialists are really able to help them. Not just anyone can serve as a volunteer and teach a blind person to use the new tools that are now a part of their everyday life.
As I was saying, my father listens frequently to audio books, but at the same time, given his age, it is certainly harder to learn braille. Do you have a special technique that you employ to help people like him?
As far as financing is concerned, what is it that you really need and what can we, at the federal level, do for you to help you provide more effective services to the visually impaired?