Foreign Affairs committee  I believe it will, and we are seeing some indications of that. Immediately after the new president, President Martelly, was elected, Brandaid was invited to present to the new economic team. What we presented was an expanded version of the CIDA program, based in the artisan home

Foreign Affairs committee  It's about creating a brand identity and brand assets, so that the producer owns something other than simply the skill and the means to fill an order for somebody who then has a long-lasting and sustainable business. It's about market share. Sustainability for our businesses is b

Foreign Affairs committee  It's 50-50, of course, according to CIDA and our protocols. How is it changing their families? Artisan activity is very much a family business and, of course, it involves children working after school and learning the trade of their family business. In many respects, any artis

Foreign Affairs committee  It is.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's absolutely right. But it's a subsidy, as I call it, and things have to be subsidized. But these two law firms took this on pro bono, because they said this is interesting, and it's innovative, and nobody's doing this. We're always looking for things that can put us in a le

Foreign Affairs committee  We weren't rejected. They said that they liked it very much, that they'd like to keep the proposal open.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  No, we didn't.

Foreign Affairs committee  Here's what happened. We work with TFO, which you might know. The trade facilitation office is a kind of intermediary between CIDA and organizations and companies that have never done business with CIDA before. TFO exists to create export opportunities for producers in emerging e

Foreign Affairs committee  Gee, I don't know. It was just someone.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it was out of the ordinary. That's true. But the proposal was in the channel, and I think the earthquake changed everybody's perception of what the needs were in Haiti.

Foreign Affairs committee  Your first question was on Mr. de Soto's recommendation that poor people who are currently renting a hut in a slum, paying anywhere from $200 to $1,000 a year, be given a deed to that land. They then have collateral that essentially makes them liquid, and they can borrow money.

Foreign Affairs committee  We sign contracts with our partner producers. The contracts specifically define what we regard as the intellectual property, and it belongs to the producers. So when a product is designed, even when it's designed by Patty Johnson, who works for Brandaid and CIDA, the intellectual

Foreign Affairs committee  We're working on how to register this to protect it in any real sense. I can't give you a black-and-white answer on that. The legal systems in Haiti and other places are complicated. We now have the advice of Gowling Lafleur, which is the biggest copyright law firm in Canada, and

Foreign Affairs committee  No, we submitted the proposal to CIDA long before we were contacted and were told that it was a great proposal but it was not what the Canadian government was focused on in Haiti. The artisan sector was outside of what they were doing there. But, as I said, when the earthquake hi