Basically, the legislation provides that the Minister of National Defence can either declare a conflict as a special duty area—it's a specific geographic area outside of Canada where members are exposed to conditions of elevated risk—or declare it a special duty operation. These are missions and operations involving elevated risk that may take place inside or outside of Canada.
I have a list of the number of times that previous defence ministers have made that designation. Some of them have been in Canada. Most of them have been expeditionary and external to Canada.
That's my authority: It's to declare particular engagements and missions, or areas, according to the expert advice that I would receive from the Canadian Armed Forces.