Yes, I do. I think that in order to fund this bill, as we've already heard and a number of witnesses have stated, we're likely to see resources taken out of other areas.
As Mr. Sullivan said, we already know what women and children need. They need more equality. We've had cuts to Status of Women, rape crisis centres, and to shelters, which are overcrowded and can't take everybody. We've had cuts to mental health services, where women have historically been overrepresented, and we've had cuts to social services. So we're seeing more women in particular coming in for essentially trying to survive in a community that is increasingly inhospitable. Looking at indigenous women in particular, when I started in this work almost three decades ago, they were around 10% of the federal jail population. They're now at 34%, and it's growing. I was just at the Edmonton Institution for Women, and the maximum security unit was full of indigenous women. As I said, the overcrowding is already problematic. This is only going to increase that.
As well, when people come out of prison, if they haven't had access to the services and some of the supports they need, not only will they come out with potentially more mental health issues and challenges, they'll also go into a community that will be less able to deal with their issues and less able to support them, and they'll be less able to contribute because of all the cuts to those areas. As the National Council of Welfare pointed out in a report on poverty they recently released, in countries where you have more humane, more human rights focused, criminal justice systems you see less poverty as well, and you tend to have those policies go hand in hand.
In terms of the issue of victims attending parole and parole board hearings and having information, that already exists. I know it's only policy, but that's the perfect example of a piece of legislation that is not required, because if a victim wants to attend, I don't know of any parole hearing where they have not been permitted to attend and have not been funded. Now I can understand—