In terms of the question itself, I would say that the [Technical difficulty—Editor] that were requested in terms of surge during the pandemic were very much to complement the additional requirements beyond the staff we currently have in communities. It would be a different type of tracking in the sense that we have a permanent workforce in various indigenous communities across the country. At the time of the audit, it was actually 51 communities where we managed direct services and 28 where the service had been transferred to the indigenous communities. At this time we're at 50 and 29, because we transferred a community in Quebec.
In terms of the needs on the ground, it would have been assessed and met by the primary health team in the community, supported by the 18 physicians we have across the country, the regional medical health officers and the staff.
In the pandemic we saw an increased demand for surge support that would not necessarily have been common prior to the pandemic. We could probably provide the committee with statistics on the number of clients we saw per community, our workforce in the communities prepandemic and our workforce in communities postpandemic. I think that could give you an indication of the need surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, if that's helpful.