Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  No.

Status of Women committee  No; no meaningful change.

Status of Women committee  No. There's a huge problem with housing and institutionalization of women and girls with disabilities.

Status of Women committee  I can't state it strongly enough: it begins with recognizing that the resources simply aren't there. The work we're doing through our current project on legislation, policy, and service responses affirms what we've known for a long time at DAWN Canada, and further affirms what women told us in the research we did from 2011 to 2014, that the systemic problems are part of how you can begin to address it, because women with disabilities will continue to experience violence at higher rates than any other women.

Status of Women committee  No.

Status of Women committee  There aren't any that I'm aware of. There's certainly research going on, as I said. I think that's where Canadians and the Government of Canada have an opportunity to lead on this. We have been leading on the issue of addressing violence against women, and I think this is an important area that needs to be looked at much more closely.

Status of Women committee  That's right.

Status of Women committee  I appreciate that you've taken the time to look carefully at that study. It's a very important piece of work, and I'm glad you've asked these questions. To be really clear, we are criminalizing women with disabilities. We are doing this in terms of the homeless population. Again, the same researcher who did that study, Dr.

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to begin today by recognizing that we are in a time of truth and reconciliation here in Canada with our indigenous sisters and brothers and acknowledge that we are gathered today on the territory of the Algonquin Nation. I would also like to thank the committee for bringing us here today and for undertaking this important study on violence against women and girls.

Status of Women committee  The mantra at DAWN Canada is “leadership, partnership, and networking”. That's because we're one agency serving millions of women in this country and the only agency that's focused on women with disabilities and deaf women in Canada. It's one of the few in the world. I think that speaks to something.

Status of Women committee  Consistent funding for the work around violence against women is absolutely critical. The possibility of continuing to do the work we're doing is one of the important ways this happens. Because we're talking about something systemic and long-standing, long-standing and systemic things don't change overnight.

Status of Women committee  It isn't aligned now, but it could be.

Status of Women committee  As I said, it's a community development project. The costs are definitely related to the geographical scope of the project, so it's important to understand that $500,000 is not a lot of money when you're talking about 13 sites across the country. It is again, as I said, what we were doing, and it's a stepped process.

Status of Women committee  We have a positive campaign right now on Twitter, on Facebook, and on all social media. I think that's an important way that DAWN Canada is addressing it—through social media, directly, out there in that conversation.