Thank you.
Thank you to the two representatives of the Pauktuutit. I'm glad to see that you were participating in the consultation.
Today we received an answer from the Minister of Justice concerning a question that was asked of him when he came in front of this committee on Bill C-32, where it was supposed to—and I'm sorry, I'll switch to French which is easier for me.
On October 9, 2014, he made the commitment before this committee to provide us with information about the aboriginal organizations that had played a role in developing Bill C-32, about their comments and about the measures in the bill designed to address their concerns. He answered a number of questions.
Some of my impressions about the minister's remarks correspond to what you told us.
I tend to agree with you. There is nothing in this bill about cultural differences. You talked—and not too much—about the Gladue case from the Supreme Court of Canada, which was very clear that because of specific cultural...that we had to address this.
In one of his answers the minister made the following quite clear.
BillC-32 will apply to all victims of criminal acts with no regard to race, personal or financial circumstances, gender, age, sexual orientation or ethnic origin. Although many of the proposed provisions may be particularly useful for aboriginal victims, the Victims Bill of Rights will give the same rights to aboriginal victims as to other victims all across Canada.
Representatives from the Native Women's Association of Canada told us that a number of victims are afraid of the police. That may seem strange to people like us who live in cities and are used to seeing them play a role in the community. But the perception of people living in more remote locations may be very different.
Is that a concern for you? How should we tackle this new charter so that you benefit from it as much as victims in big cities?