Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much. Violence against women happens in all cultures and religions, in all ethnic and racial communities, at every age, in every income group. Immigrant women under the spousal sponsorship program are more vulnerable to abuses or domestic violence due to the sheer

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay. Then she passed away at the age of 30. She did not get the help she needed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As an immigrant-serving organization, we offer the information that is available based on the immigration directions and rules to help them, because for many of those women language is a barrier. We help them to understand. We provide the tools that are available for them. Howev

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I don't believe they all understand their rights and also their responsibilities of being in Canada. This is what we're trying to say: make sure through education sessions that we are able to help them understand what their rights are and what their responsibilities in Canada are

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In terms of the age, as long as we make it reasonable, we make it less of a barrier to people, I think that would help the vulnerable women to get on with being economically independent.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We provide about 20-plus languages. We also work with the language bank to offer their services depending on the person, where they come from and the language they speak, in an attempt to make sure they understand the intent and the message and the rights and responsibilities.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's provided they know how to access the service and what services are available for them.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's correct.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Let me put it this way. It's hard for a layman to interpret law. I want to share with you some examples. I didn't have time for the second example. Even the person who knows the language does not necessarily understand the legislation and the implication of the laws. I think it's

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, I think we are splitting hairs. If they don't have basic language skills, they would not be able to understand even day-to-day talk. Some of them come with minimal literacy or are even at the preliteracy stage in their country of origin. That means they are illiterate in the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We concur with Ms. Douglas' point with regard to the language requirement.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My example actually illustrates the fact that it might not be helpful in those abusive situations under those conditions.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The second example is an Arabic-speaking client who was sponsored by her husband. When she came, she was psychologically abused by her husband by the fact that her husband lied to her about his living conditions in Canada. He told his wife that he was living in very nice conditio