Thank you so much for the question.
I want to just quickly touch first on your opening remarks about awareness building and how important it is that, as we put this legislation through, the government also launch a campaign. I can't do that through a private member's bill. I can't spend money. It's really important for the government to do an awareness campaign around this. That is what the U.K. did once they passed the legislation. It's critical that victims, abusers and everyone in the criminal justice system know what this is and how it works.
To your question on the consultations, I want to again give a lot of credit to my colleague Mr. Garrison for his work. The first time I started engaging on this bill was alongside my colleague. We met with local organizations in the Victoria region. We met with folks who are in frontline organizations and transition houses, with organizations that work with newcomers, and with indigenous organizations. What we heard from every single one of them is that the criminal justice system isn't serving victims of intimate partner violence and that this is a much-needed change to our laws.
I remember a story from those initial consultations that I was involved in. It was about the prevalence of newcomers' experience of this kind of coercive control, especially when their partner has control of their immigration documents and passport and is the liaison and the person responsible for them being in Canada. I heard what kind of power that gives them over these newcomers, who are often women and racialized women, and how vital it is that we provide avenues for support.