I heard a little about the conditional PR and the impact on spouses who find themselves in abusive relationships. I can tell you this committee is very pleased with the very extensive study we did where we looked at the abuse of women in Canada's immigration system. I believe, Ms. Douglas, you were one of the witnesses who appeared for that study as well.
Certainly in the recommendations in the report of those findings, one of the things we focused on was trying to ensure how we can advise women particularly of their rights here in Canada, because that's where the abuse is mostly happening. They are not obliged to stay in an abusive relationship. In many cases a lot of women do not know their rights here, so they find themselves stuck in that relationship.
It's important for us to inform and educate newcomers before they come to Canada of their rights here, and to know that in this country when you speak up, you get protection.
Many of them, of course, depending on where they come from around the world, are worried about the stigma on them and their families, and how their family is going to be perceived if they leave their spouse. That's not the Canadian way.
We have a bill before the House now, which we're going to be studying in the next few weeks, which deals with another aspect of what we call barbaric practices in certain situations.
It is something we're focusing on, and that's why we took a very long time to study that very issue.