Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee. Good afternoon. My name is Dalal Al-Waheidi, and I serve as the executive director for WE Charity. I've spent 18 years in various roles at WE Charity, and I work alongside an exceptional team. I'm proud of the impact we make in

Finance committee  We have worked with a few individuals within ESDC on the contribution agreement—

Finance committee  [Technical difficulty—Editor]

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. We started a conversation with ESDC about the contribution agreement and on the program design as of May 5. During that time it is not uncommon for contribution agreement negotiations for organizations to claim—

Finance committee  We were in negotiation about the program at that time.

Finance committee  We had conversations with various members of ESDC whereby we had to implement the program design. It was implemented in such a short period of time—

Finance committee  We had different conversations with different people who were part of the negotiation process for the contract—

Finance committee  Nobody told us we could spend money before. I wish to remind the committee that these were eligible expenditures that were allowed to be reimbursed. I am trying to answer the question, with all due respect, if you can give me the courtesy to answer the question. Nobody told us f

Finance committee  WE Charity is a national organization. You are correct. We do have an office and staff in Montreal. We have worked with over 400 schools across the province of Quebec. We have also worked in various provinces with high speaking French communities. We have implemented 11 WE Days,

Finance committee  National PR was hired to assist us in the process to reach out to francophone and Quebec organizations especially in the area of engagement of not-for-profit organizations. We were really excited about the opportunity that CSSG would provide in helping us to support communities i

Finance committee  As the executive director for the organization, part of my role is to manage team members to operationalize the program. My role was to bring this program to life in such a short period of time from an operational level.

Finance committee  We have registered as lobbyists, but I want to provide context, which I think is really important. For the past years, our engagement with the government was about 1% to 3% of our overall budget, and we found that it was minimal. If I thought that registration was required, we w

Finance committee  No. Thank you. You did a really good job at pronouncing my name. I appreciate it. WE started working in Montreal in 2007—

Finance committee  It was at some time between 2007 and 2008. I don't have the exact date in front of me, but I have the year. I'm happy to provide this information.

Finance committee  Sorry?