Status of Women committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and thank you, committee members. It is indeed a pleasure to be here today to discuss the supplementary estimates for the organization. I've had the opportunity over the past several months to review the work of the committee. It has been varied

Status of Women committee  Yes, absolutely. We will certainly give you a copy of the presentation, if you do not already have it.

Status of Women committee  No, what I was saying is the fact that it's an organization that lobbies is not a bar to it receiving funding, but the project itself must meet the terms and conditions that—

Status of Women committee  It's hard to say in the abstract, because I think a lot would be determined on how the project is structured and how the organization intends to.... On the web we have the specific criteria for each of the projects.

Status of Women committee  I'll just make it clear that I did not say that we funded lobbying. I just want to make it crystal clear that lobbying organizations can still seek funding if their projects meet the criteria. I believe, hypothetically, the project you're describing would not meet the criteria.

Status of Women committee  But the project that had been funded by the National Association of Women and the Law last year likely would have been eligible for about 75% of the funding if they had applied for a similar project this year.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  There seem to be several broad questions. Certainly, in terms of the community fund, it is aimed at providing funds to groups where they are providing a direct benefit to women. There are a series of criteria, which we have set out on our website. You have to be an incorporated

Status of Women committee  Can I just quickly answer her question about the international level?

Status of Women committee  The person who went to the Commonwealth summit was very knowledgeable about the Commonwealth—

Status of Women committee  With pleasure, Madame Deschamps, I can talk to the committee about my background. I grew up in Saskatchewan, but I've lived all over this country, so I'm a real Canadian. I received my training in law. I taught law at Dalhousie for nine years, and wrote extensively and presen

Status of Women committee  Since April 2007.

Status of Women committee  During this last round—and I'm assuming you're talking about the last call, which was the first one under the new terms and conditions this year—we accepted 60 applications for projects to the tune of about $8 million over three years. They will have an impact, directly and indir

Status of Women committee  Sixty projects, yes.

Status of Women committee  We had 252 applications and we accepted 60. There were approximately 60 more that had real potential, but given the time limits and our resources we simply could not give them professional assistance at the time. We think the majority of them will be applying in the second call,