Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you so much to our witnesses who came forward today. We've heard from many experts in this field and from survivors as well.
I want to particularly indicate how much we appreciate hearing from those of you who are at the front lines. I was involved for a number of years with the board at our local women's shelter. It gave me a very acute understanding of the immense commitment you put in and, without question, how much our society relies on the work you do day in and day out. Thank you very much for the work you do and for being able to come here and share with us what we need to be doing.
Really, I had a series of questions that I wanted to talk about, touching on the various issues, but perhaps like you, I think many of us in this room and across the country were shocked and deeply saddened by the homicide of Zahra Abdille and her children in Toronto a few days ago. I'm wondering if all three of you could speak to perhaps the experience that we're hearing about from her case, which is the fact that women get trapped in situations where they have no access to housing and no access to legal services.
Even though shelters are there to help as much as they can, there are so many other issues that compound the victimization that women face, and also particularly, perhaps, women in immigrant communities or racialized communities who may not have access to culturally appropriate services. How can we relate dealing with those compound issues to the kind of action that we need to see from the federal government?
Perhaps, Ms. Tygesen, we could start with you, and then hear from Ms. Martin and Ms. Ward.