There are about 25 employees in the offices across Canada. They work mostly on promotion.
The role of the offices in the regions has evolved. My predecessor raised a problem with investigators in the regions investigating complaints. It was a fairness issue, in the sense that the investigators were living in the communities and were investigating federal institutions. There was a perception of bias for the community. So, my predecessor decided that people should not conduct investigations in their own regions.
Therefore, we made some changes to our ombudsman role. We are in the process of focusing the role of people in the regions on promotion. It is true that we may wonder why these investigators are in the regions when they are not conducting investigations in the regions. However, I should say that the contribution of these people is enormous. We did not change our minds overnight that these people should no longer work. There are people who contribute enormously, even though they are in the regions.
It is a transition toward using these offices for promotion with federal institutions and the community.