Status of Women committee  Sure, Traci. I believe, of course, that we look at someone's identity and we start looking at the intersections, and that of course things like race and language present barriers for families. Whether they're indigenous folks or immigrants or they belong to a racialized population, we see even more struggles for those people than we do for the people who don't have those identities.

Status of Women committee  No, you can go, Traci. That's fine.

Status of Women committee  Of course, I can speak only from my own experience in my rural community, but, as I said before, we have only a handful of places to work right now: a convenience store, a bar, and the town hall. There are very few positions, so having more jobs particularly for women would be favourable.

Status of Women committee  Based on what I've read so far of the budget—of course, it's a very long document—and knowing what I know about rural communities and lack of access to the Internet, I think affordability is probably the biggest piece for people. In rural communities, we often struggle financially from household to household, from families to family, so getting Internet access in the first place is an expensive thing to do.

Status of Women committee  I definitely believe that would be incredibly helpful. As a post-secondary student, I know about, say, trying to apply for scholarships. There are so many scholarships out there for students to avail themselves of, but we can't find them. I imagine it's much the same for people looking for monies in rural communities for different initiatives, projects and such.

Status of Women committee  I can only speak from my perspective, of course, and I recognize and understand that challenges are different in different rural communities throughout my province and throughout the country. I've been faced with some challenges with Internet inaccessibility over the course of the past year or so with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Status of Women committee  Thank you.

Status of Women committee  First, we were pleased to see the inclusion of a universal broadband fund within Budget 2021. Our first recommendation is to focus on affordable options. Canadian service providers must be required—be mandated by government—to service areas that are currently struggling with Internet accessibility and to put a system in place such that prices are not higher in smaller communities for poorer service.

Status of Women committee  Thank you, first of all, for that kind welcome. Traci and I have prepared to share our five minutes. If we have your permission to do so, we will proceed that way. If we have a little bit of wiggle room, perhaps we can go ahead with that.

Status of Women committee  I will pass it over to Traci, because she will begin our presentation for you all today. Here you go, Traci. Thank you.

Status of Women committee  I'm Shealah, a youth from Northern Arm, Newfoundland and Labrador, with a population of just 426. Today, I'm here representing my club in the neighbouring community of Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as BGC Canada as a member of their national youth council. Thank you so much for having us here today to speak to you all.