Thank you, Chair.
Minister, thank you for joining us today on this very important piece of legislation.
I want to focus my first question on the issue of domestic violence, gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence. We know that not only are firearms used in this case but, more importantly, they're also used as a means to threaten the partner, like holding, in most cases, a woman hostage, because they know that their partner has a firearm. I have personal experience with a good friend whose ex-husband legally owned firearms and used those as a threat for violence to hold her hostage.
Minister, I want to ask you about the background checks. The chief firearms officer has a very prescriptive list of what they look for on background checks. When I've talked to some of the organizations that deal with women who are fleeing abuse, they've asked if it would be possible to add something along the lines of “any other risks associated with violence”, so that when the background check is being done, it's expanded slightly beyond that prescriptive list.
I understand that they've spoken with you about this. What are your thoughts on adding something along those lines?