Merci bien.
Four minutes is a very short period of time, but I just want to take a moment to thank you very, very much and congratulate you. I can't tell you what an inspiration you are to many of us aboriginal women.
I just want to put into some context who I am. My background is Scottish and Cree. I am a Métis woman whose mother spent her entire career working for the Manitoba Youth Centre, which is, of course, our jail for kids. She worked extensively with aboriginal youth to try to give them some hope. These were misguided youth who simply were looking for a way to identify, so she brought the teepee to the youth centre and spent an enormous amount of time bringing ceremonies to the youth centre. Thankfully, I was able to learn much of the teachings of the aboriginals because of my mother's involvement with the community. She now works with aboriginal women's communities in Manitoba.
I have seen first-hand what you speak of when you talk about violence against our women. I was a police officer for almost 19 years with the Winnipeg Police Service. I spent much of my career in the child abuse unit and the missing persons unit. I have worked on cases of missing aboriginal women, including that of Felicia Solomon, who would not have been identified if it weren't for the actions of many investigators who collaborated, because all we found were body parts.
I want to bring up the fact that I am very pleased to hear that you are spearheading again the Sisters in Spirit project and that you believe in what our government is doing to get to the bottom of this case of more than 500 missing aboriginal women. Is that correct? Are you still of the conviction in your beliefs that this is a good project funded by the Government of Canada?