Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for being here. We appreciate your taking this time. Obviously we want our report to be accurate and useful and to guide us in terms of this legislation.
I have a couple of questions. These stem from your testimony and from things we heard from previous witnesses.
For example, last week we heard from a young lawyer who was talking about polygamous marriages. To the question of how many there are in Canada, the response was anecdotal. We don't seem to have any real numbers. But if there is such a relationship in Canada, if there is a threat of deportation, then the sponsor or the male partner could simply divorce the second wife. That puts her in, I think, a very precarious position. There was concern about what happens to these women and their children.
In terms of these kinds of consequences, are you hearing fears from women who could very well be deported in regard to what happens to them and their children? Second, is part of the fear financial, as in “Where do I go?”, and the possibility of being marginalized from family, or simply being shunned by family?