Status of Women committee  None of them have been set up yet. It's a new element that was just announced last year.

Status of Women committee  Just to be clear, the transition homes are a new element for us, so we're just moving into that direction now, but—

Status of Women committee  It was announced in 2021. We're starting to receive proposals now, so we're hoping to have these in place, at least some of them, within the next year or two. We can provide more details on that.

Status of Women committee  Again, we work really closely with the communities themselves and through the organizations nationally. Our regional offices at ISC are working really closely with communities to identify what those needs are and to try to build that into their proposal. Again, it's very much a bottom-up type of approach, but intersectionality and a number of considerations are definitely the things that we try to bring to the review of our proposals.

Status of Women committee  Again, I will get back to the committee, but I would think some of the shelters that we have in place.... We could benefit from the existence of those first nations shelters. There are a number of initiatives going on in Ontario that we probably can—

Status of Women committee  We've talked about the shelter system that we are trying to expand and improve. I think what you may be interested in is some of the projects that are funded through the prevention component of the program. As I mentioned, those are very much community driven. If it would be helpful, maybe we could get back to the committee with a bit of a sense of what types of services and activities might get funded through our program.

Status of Women committee  Again, those communities are part of the prevention programming that we have available. We try to notionally keep an eye open for proposals, so that we make sure those types of initiatives aimed at those groups are covered, but there isn't a dedicated set of funding or a basket of services that we target specifically for those groups.

Status of Women committee  In 2020 there was an immediate initiative to expand the network to an additional 12. There were 10 more announced for first nations communities, plus two in the territories. Finally, after that, we have moved into the most recent initiative in 2021, whereby we're expanding to an additional 38 shelters plus 50 transition homes.

Status of Women committee  Again, moving to the transitional homes is a big piece for us. That's not just going to be limited to first nations communities, but that's an important piece of the puzzle. Yes, it's great to have shelters in place for people to seek refuge when it's absolutely necessary, but there needs to be some sort of step that allows people to transition back into some sort of different environment.

Status of Women committee  To clarify the question, are you talking about investments for the initiative nationally or are you speaking specifically—

Status of Women committee  It's probably best if I get back to the committee with the specific dollar values for those, both nationally and with the Manitoba focus.

Status of Women committee  Perhaps I can start with that. You raise an excellent point, in that in the things that are leading to the need for women's shelters on reserve or anywhere, the causes are the things that also need to be part of the solution. I know that the Department of Indigenous Services Canada is looking at housing and looking more and more at infrastructure investments and things that can be done even in urban communities—that's something our branch is involved in—in trying to create truly a continuum of things that prevent family violence.

Status of Women committee  Yes, as I mentioned, this is the underlying objective of the family violence prevention program. It's to actually put in place supports that allow communities to decide on the best types of prevention activities, on what kinds of culturally appropriate services are available. There's a great deal of flexibility in what we offer.

Status of Women committee  I think what you're referring to—that and an evaluation of the program that was done a few years ago—indicated the gaps in the program. The things we have seen, such as the expansion of the program over the last two to three years, are attempting to address just that. It's looking at what kinds of resources can be made available to close the gap both in terms of individual shelters, but also in the number of shelters made available across the country.

Status of Women committee  We do that by increasing our investments. The focus over the last little while has been on expanding the number of shelters. As I mentioned in my remarks, we're going from a network of 46 shelters that exist right now to just under 100. We plan to build 96 or 97 shelters across the country by 2026, if I'm not mistaken.