Thank you, Mr. Ledwell.
I'm going to try to answer the question quickly.
A little earlier, Mr. Desilets, you asked questions about the francophone employees who were hired to help us reduce wait times. I first want to confirm that we are going to be keeping those employees.
Second, from 2020‑2021 to 2021‑2022, there was a seven-week reduction in the average wait time for first applications associated with applications by francophones. That shows a definite improvement. The average is now 45 weeks. However, we still have a lot of work to do.
As I have explained in other meetings and discussions, a lot of applications from francophones had been in the backlog for a long time. When we make decisions on those applications, it has an impact on the resources available to us.
Hiring additional francophone personnel is going to allow us to further reduce the discrepancy in processing times between applications from anglophones and applications from francophones.