Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I've been a practising member of the New Brunswick and Ontario bars and a member of the law societies there for more than twenty years. I'm not a legal aid lawyer; I've done very little of it except at the beginning of my career. It seems to me that despite the talk about improvements here—and I know you're working with an interesting system—the general coverage of legal aid has decreased over time, certainly in my province of New Brunswick, which is where I practise mainly.
Also, there has been an increased demand or recognition of demand from the law societies involved in that time. The law societies, I believe, have stepped up to the plate in terms of contributions and moral suasion regarding representing clients and so on. That's my general view, and I'd ask you to comment on that.
But the bigger question I have hasn't been covered, which is why I'm covering it. With respect to civil legal aid in support enforcement, not so much custody, because I believe that a review nationally would show that exigent custody situations might get covered one way or the other, when it comes to support obligations not being met primarily by defaulting husbands—let's call it straight—the provincial response through enforcement mechanisms is not always the best. And this cuts across all legal and partisan lines. It's a growing problem that women who have gone through a divorce or a separation are unable to get sufficiently good representation to get the money they're owed for their family, for their children. What have we done for that specific problem, and what can we do better for those members of our society?