Funding is always at the heart of the matter for every organization, isn't it? This is especially true for organizations where resources, both financial and human, are fairly limited. As Ms. Stronach said in her presentation, without core funding, it would be almost impossible to do any work. We would not have a physical space where we could organize our activities. We would have to do small-scale work that wouldn't amount to much.
The Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages made some recommendations in the report that came out last year on funding organizations like ours. It recommended greater flexibility in how these organizations are funded.
We fully understand that there must be some requirements for public funding, but the process to apply for funding and to present a summary of what has been accomplished is always difficult, because the request must be submitted a few months in advance for the activity that we want to undertake. When the time comes to put things in motion, the circumstances are fairly often not exactly as we had expected, and adjustments are necessary.
With respect to our relationship with Canadian Heritage, which is the source of our core funding, I must say that the department has shown some flexibility when it decides on the value of the funding requests and the subsequent results. The fact remains that, for organizations like ours, our core funding barely changes from year to year. Over the past 10 years, and I have some experience here, our core funding has increased 2%. I think you'll agree with me that this isn't exactly keeping up with the rate of inflation.
What are we asking for? Of course, we're asking for a little more money. That's what we're always asking for, isn't it? With a little more money, we could do a lot more.
I see that the chair is motioning to me. I'm sorry.