To refer to the competition, first of all, the site was a selected one. When we got the documents, when we started the competition, the site had been selected.
We just want to connect with something. It's very clear in the documents that this monument is to celebrate the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, which was composed of veterans, of course, and of civil society. This is what we really understood through Madame Arbour's participation: It's not only the veterans, of course; it's the veterans and civil society.
To respond to your question, because we did hear Madame Petitpas Taylor talking about the veterans and so on, we want to make sure everybody understands what happened at the beginning of this process, which is that the veterans were consulted. Prior to the elaboration of documents, the public and the veterans were consulted, and because they participated, it was built into the competition documents. When we received the documents, their opinion was already integrated within these documents. We want to make sure everybody understands that. It was very clear in all the documents we received. Their opinion was considered, because they built that into the documents. That was the first step.
For the second step, there was supposed to be a public hearing or a public consultation, which is usually how they do it with these types of monuments. We participated in the LeBreton Flats competition and so on, and there was a public consultation, which we always agree with, because there we get the opportunity to present our projects and to explain the subtleties we cannot explain when you only present a document or a video and so on.
This did not happen. Mind you, it was in the rules of the competition.
Instead, the government decided to do a survey, and of course they got responses back. The survey was not dedicated solely to veterans; the public had the opportunity to answer, and the members of the jury did look at the result of that survey, which was integrated in their conclusion when they selected us as the winning team.