First, I would like to say that these spaces have to be run by indigenous people. We've had, for example, indigenous women who have had to talk into a box outside to get into a shelter and they haven't been allowed into the shelter because there was an assumption that they had been drinking. Because of that, they have gone back home. So there has to be not only 24-7 but also ongoing funding, permanent funding, to ensure that women can move from high-risk situations to safe spaces to private-market safe spaces, if I can call them that.
It's a very long road, so those arbitrary timelines that people put on someone's journey from where they were to where they need to be are damaging and destructive and counterproductive, and they create a cycle. Our funding generally goes for one year—the maximum it's ever gone is three years—when actually we've been able to demonstrate evidence-based standards of excellence and excellent service delivery. So why wouldn't we make that permanent the way you do with education? You know, if you can demonstrate that you know how to do your job and do it well, why wouldn't there be permanent core funding?