The question is very important, because obviously we aim in our plan for inclusive innovation: that means our workforce reflecting Canada and also the way we work reflecting diverse communities and different interests in Canada. Those two things are fundamental.
I can report to the committee that in terms of the availability of women in the fields where we would recruit for our expertise, we exceed the labour market availability at this current time at the NRC, and that's been the case for some time. I don't want to say that as if that means that things are over. We also have to look at how people move and how their careers develop and keep a very close eye on different communities as they experience the NRC and the workplace in the NRC. This is very important.
We have over 90 nationalities in the NRC's workforce—a very diverse workforce—and this is something built up over many years of our recruitment in various fields. I would also say that at NRC we have a very strong representation of women in very serious areas of engineering, as well as science, because we have a lot of engineering talent as well as scientific talent. This is something that contributes greatly.
You'll see in many of the experts we're profiling regularly in various fields of construction research a lot of very significant and very well-accomplished women who are playing key roles in working in research in areas of construction, where, in fact, even the industry itself may well be working on representation. I think our research team is actually very strong and is reflecting well the Canadian population and the talent that's available.
We're seeing that in the recruitment we're undertaking. We have astoundingly high-quality people from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds come to us and want to work with the organization. We're very pleased with that.