Thank you.
A study done by one of the NFPs, not-for-profit agencies, in town deals with this issue. They found the average age for young girls entering prostitution is 13 years of age.
I want to talk a little bit.... It's ironic. I've been around, as I said, and I'm not bragging about it; trust me. I have almost 40 years in policing.
Up until about 15 years ago, we didn't do a very good job in regard to family violence and domestic violence, because we had this attitude, which goes back many years, that if a woman is in a situation where there's family violence, she chooses to be there. It's her choice. You know what? That wasn't the case then with family violence and domestic violence. It took us going a long way on the spectrum to acknowledge that it's a complicated issue that requires the application of the law on the abuser, where appropriate, but more importantly, it requires support systems to support the victim, where appropriate, and the victim and the family.
The discussion around this is very similar. From observing not only our own experiences in Calgary but also from reading studies, I believe strongly that, when you are out there and see the disproportionate representation of aboriginal women, when you see that there are addiction issues and issues of mental illness, for too long policing has focused on the symptoms, put them in jail, instead of focusing on the people there.