Thank you very much.
Thank you for being here today.
My sense is that as a middle power, Canada's options, I won't say are limited, but are certainly circumscribed as far as what we can do. I want to point to two areas. I, as a member of the foreign affairs committee, have travelled to Guatemala and Colombia, to Ukraine, and to other areas. Mr. Levitt is also on that committee. We've seen Canadian development assistance executed on the ground that is having a concrete and positive impact on people's lives in the realm of agriculture and legal aid. I bring those two areas up not because they're the only areas that we could focus on—obviously, there's much more to our development policy than that—but as far as the problem of human trafficking is concerned. There is a plethora of articles that this committee has looked at in preparation for this study. They look at the problems that farmers are having in India: the debt, for example, they find themselves in; the drought right now in southern India that is quite bad, that is forcing folks into a situation of poverty. These problems are leading them to, in many cases, unfortunately make the decision that their children are going to be trafficked.
I noticed that in your statement you outlined a number of areas that we're helping within India. A few of those focus on food security and agriculture in general terms. I wonder if you could point to that and perhaps make the link that this is an area where, indirectly, there is support available for combatting human trafficking. Also, and Mr. Tabbara touched on it, as far as the punitive aspect of the matter is concerned, I wonder if you can look at whether or not Canada has made support available now or in the past when it comes to legal aid programs within India. Obviously there are concerned advocates there who want to take this issue forward, even though public attitudes might not be where one would hope at the moment. There are always human rights advocates who are pushing issues forward no matter the circumstances. I wonder if legal aid might be an area to look at.