It was a great day in Sydney with the Prime Minister, where we met the community that was looking forward to the reopening of that Veterans Affairs office. It was a real joy for me to be there personally. As well, you could see the relief in the community and among many of the veterans who were looking forward to that occurring.
I can say that we have opened five of the offices to date. We will have all nine open by May 2017. We continue to hire new employees to fill those spaces and to adequately staff them. When we came into office, shortly after October 19, our analysis was that we needed some more help, given that in Surrey, B.C., we have a large cohort of veterans who are settling in that area. I think the number is upwards of 5,000, so that area needs help and assistance.
We never had outreach in the north that was really effective and proactive, so we put together a mobile team to go out there and do the good work, ensuring that our first nations, Métis, and Inuit veterans, as well as other members who have served up in the north region and who choose to settle there after the fact, get the help they need from our department. This is a large nation, and I think moving towards that northern presence has been a good move. It will allow us to serve the population better and will allow more flexibility in programming and getting people help wherever they live in this great nation.