First of all, on behalf of Nathalie Morin's Support Committee, I would like to thank members of the Sub-Committee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development for agreeing to hear from us today. I would like to briefly introduce the four people who are here today, and we will each be speaking after that.
First of all, Nathalie Morin's Support Committee was founded in December of 2009 to assist Ms. Johanne Durocher, Nathalie's mother, with her fight to bring her daughter and grandchildren back to Canada. The Committee is a non-profit, citizen-based organization which represents individuals but has the support of many women's groups, members of Parliament and citizens.
We will begin our presentation with opening comments from Ms. Durocher, who is Nathalie's mother and is the President of the Support Committee. She will briefly talk about Nathalie's and her children's living conditions since 2005. She will also describe the actions or inaction of the government, the Canadian Embassy in Riyad and consular services in Ottawa.
For today's presentation, we asked Mr. Stéphane Beaulac, a professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Montreal, to be with us, in order to address the international mechanisms which allow a government to intervene in a foreign country, particularly as regards consular cases. Professor Beaulac teaches international public law and human rights interpretation.
Ms. Christelle Bogosta, who is also a member of the Support Committee and is a graduate of the University of Montreal in community health, will talk about the effects of the abuse and deprivation that Nathalie and her children have been suffering for several years now on their physical and psychological health.
I, too, am a member of the Support Committee and am an assistant to the member of Parliament for La Pointe-de-l'Île, Ms. Francine Lalonde. We have been supporting Ms. Durocher's efforts since April of 2008. As a result of that, we have had a number of exchanges with Minister Lawrence Cannon and with Foreign Affairs here in Ottawa. We also met with the Saudi Arabian Ambassador, Mr. Osamah Al Sanosi Ahmad on May 3rd. I will be addressing that in my comments.
I would like to turn it over now to Ms. Durocher. Thank you.