Let me maybe turn to French to explain where we stand with this.
When incidences occur, there is cooperation and coordination on the ground. There are people suffering, there are victims, and we must take action. We have absolutely outstanding coordination and cooperation with the municipalities. We are in the process of signing service agreements for municipalities with 125,000 people or more throughout the country. In Quebec, for example, over 140 municipalities have signed agreements with us. That is a significant number, and gives you some idea of the coordination that exists on the ground.
We think it is important that we be officially recognized in the Act as auxiliaries to the public authorities, as is the case in some provinces. In any case, the Act establishing the Red Cross, which was passed by the Parliament of Canada, states that we are auxiliaries to the public authorities. This exceptional capacity, which in English is called search capacity and which the government and Canadians need, can only occur if we have agreements, and if we have been working together and if we are prepared.
What we are telling you this morning is that the volunteer sector is important. It should be said that not everyone can offer significant volunteer services. The Red Cross is probably the best placed organization in Canada to coordinate the rest of the volunteer sector as well. We can mobilize 5, 10 or 15 thousand volunteers in a short period of time. That is what we need when the public authorities are overwhelmed. Often, in the first hours of an emergency, the public authorities are overwhelmed.