For instance, we talk about child marriage. I think that child marriage should be separate from forced marriage or a polygamous relationship. I don't see anything wrong with banning child marriage. It depends on which province you live in. The age of marriage is different everywhere. I can see some merit in increasing the age of consent, for instance.
I do have a lot of concerns about the other provisions. Even the expert from Denmark is asking this committee to look beyond the laws. You have to look at the overall picture. This bill cannot be separate from the rest of what the government is or is not doing. We have to talk about what else you are doing. Instead of cutting funding to the Status of Women program and closing down its offices, should we be providing more funding to it? Should we be providing more education, as my friend from Denmark is talking about? The deporting of women is happening right now. We have clients who are victims of violence. If a wife is sponsored by her husband in Canada, an inland sponsorship, and if the husband withdraws the sponsorship, even if we prove that the wife has been abused, there is no guarantee that she will be allowed to stay in Canada on humanitarian compassionate grounds. That needs to be changed as well.