What I'll say is this. We have an issue across Canada in that your postal code will often determine the level of service you get. It's not an issue with this piece of legislation; it's a Canada-wide issue.
We work across Alberta and Saskatchewan, and I would suggest that we see a very big difference in both the effectiveness of our programs and the response between urban and rural centres, because there are fewer services available in rural centres. I would also say that we see a difference when we work with indigenous clients or clients from ethnocultural communities because of access to services, as well as access to justice based on geographic issues. If you don't have Internet in the place where you live or you don't have fresh running water or somewhere to put your head at night, those are all massive issues.
Is this bill going to solve that? No. Do we still need to solve those problems? Yes, but I think that this bill, if paired with an understanding that we still need to be working on all of those issues, and also recognizing that we need robust training and services to be able to create equity no matter what your postal code is.... That's what we should be looking at.
