Citizenship and Immigration committee  Let me echo Ms. Choo's comments in terms of the need to continue to invest in the settlement services and the kind of education and training that needs to happen there so that front-line practitioners are asking the right questions so that women are able to disclose. I believe Ms.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think it speaks to the need for information about the existence of services. Here in Canada we probably have one of the most sophisticated settlement and integration service sectors. Globally we certainly know that because we have lots of visitors from across the world coming in to take a look at our system, and yet, there are many newcomers who don't know about it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm trying to remember off the top of my head in how many countries right now we do have some pre-arrival services. I know out of the U.K. office they probably take care of about 20 countries. Asia is pretty well covered, as well as China, the Philippines, and India, in particular.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I appeared before this committee and I found opportunities when appearing before this committee to raise the whole issue of that regulation. We are on the public record as being against having a two-year conditionality imposed on sponsorship. I didn't get to it in my remarks. We believe that—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, it makes sense to have women stay in Canada with their children as opposed to having the children separated from their mothers because their fathers happen to be Canadian, as was presented here.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely, the sector across the country has identified the need. We do have some services paid for through Citizenship and Immigration Canada, pre-arrival services. We think that having a discussion or having modules that include violence against women, that include information on conditional sponsorship and exemptions, that include discussions on Canadian law, especially as it has to do with gender equality and other issues of concern to women in particular, is critically important.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's the difficult thing in proving violence, outside of physical bruises, as well as if there are witnesses to the abuse. What we have been told by our front-line practitioners who have been working with those women is that even when women somehow get that information and they attempt to get further information about the implications for their immigration status, many citizenship offices do not have that information, they're not aware of the exemption, so women are being given wrong and often contradictory information.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, we haven't had any specific examples where the evidence has been rejected. But there also isn't any intentional collection of what's happening since October 2012 with the implementation of this new regulation. I know that in Ontario, as a council, we haven't started collecting that kind of information, and I don't believe my counterparts across the country, whether it's AMSSA or La Table in Quebec, have started collecting that information either.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  May I have one minute?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. We need to invest in a national campaign to build awareness and education on preventing violence against women, including forced marriage. This would include investing in education for service providers broadly defined, who include those working with immigrants and refugees in shelters and housing, within the health care field, in law enforcement, in immigration, and in community and other social work.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The committee is also looking at the issue of forced marriage. I want to say that this is a very serious issue, giving cause for grave concern not only to this committee but to all departments federally, particularly Status of Women. You have heard from the witness from the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario who did her study on forced marriage that the research shows that forced marriage is an issue that impacts many Canadians and is not restricted to a particular geographic region or culture but is an issue that we must address as a nation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you. Thank you for that story, Queenie. I think it underscores how front-line workers are dealing with these issues on a daily basis. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, OCASI. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to the study undertaken by this committee on strengthening protection of women in our immigration system.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It may have been Ms. Jeanes who talked about this earlier, in terms of the medium- or long-term effects of trauma on children who have been detained, and whether or not there is a direct causal relationship between deviant behaviour and detention at an early age. I'm not a psychologist, so I wouldn't know that, but we do know a sense of alienation often happens when people are kept outside of a society into which they are trying to integrate.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I am.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely, and thank you for the question. I think that all of us who have presented here as witnesses, even though we say that Canada should not be concerned about our security as a nation, absolutely we should, but what I am saying, though, is that as we build in these security measures, we must be cautious that we put in place conditions that will minimize the harm we do to the vast majority of people.