Finally, there is a need for information sessions for both sponsors and sponsors' spouses when they enter Canada to make them aware of their rights and responsibilities under Canadian law. Women who need to access the domestic violence exemption in the future need to be aware that this exemption exists.
I will also mention very quickly that another problem we're seeing is that when women are in the sponsorship process and the sponsorship is withdrawn while in process, the women who are experiencing domestic violence will find themselves without approved sponsorship and without a route to permanent residence. The humanitarian and compassionate process is ill-suited to deal with those cases.
I'd be happy to respond to that more in questions later, but for women whose sponsorship has broken down through no fault of their own, we need to have a process by which they can independently gain permanent residence.
Thank you.