Kwe, hello, bonjour.
I'm Algonquin from the Kitigan Zibi community. My background is in nursing. In July, it will be three years that I have been the executive director of the Native Women's Association.
After hearing your opening remarks about the role of NWAC, Madam Chair, I'm very pleased that it seems NWAC's expertise is being acknowledged and that we'll be looked upon as advisers to the process. When we came to this meeting today, we didn't know that. I'm very glad you've relayed that information to us.
As you know, NWAC has been involved in doing work on violence—domestic violence, elder abuse, violence against children—for many years. Violence has always been a priority and will remain a priority until the issue of missing and murdered women is addressed in a manner that will be comparable at least to the rest of Canadians.
By far we lag way, way behind in terms of statistics in missing and murdered women, poverty statistics, educational statistics. Our fight goes on and on. We do want to be involved with the government and with all the players to change the status quo.
We are committed to being full participants. We will attend all the meetings in the three areas that you mentioned in your opening statements, Madam Chair. If there is still time, we would like to have input on the list of witnesses you will be calling to appear before you. We feel we could add to that list and enrich the list of witnesses who will present to you. We are ready and willing to do that.
In preparation for today's meeting, we did review some of the witness testimony that has been brought forward to the committee. We wish to identify some misinformation and to correct the facts, and although they are in the record, I think they can be corrected.
For example, in your meeting of April 25, Ms. Lisa Hitch, who is the senior counsel of the family, children and youth section of the Department of Justice, indicated that:
The Government of Canada also provided $5 million over five years, from 2005 to 2010, to the Native Women's Association of Canada for their Sisters in Spirit initiative, through Status of Women Canada, in response to concerns about missing and murdered aboriginal women.
This is a true statement, but I want to reiterate that the NWAC Sisters in Spirit initiative ended on March 31, 2010. It does not continue to this day. Our staff has noted that Ms. Hitch informed the committee that it was ongoing. That is not true. NWAC did not receive $25 million in funding following that initiative. This is a perfect example, we think, of why NWAC should be involved at the outset, or be an adviser, or be at these hearings.
The latest funding we received from the government was $500,000 for Evidence to Action I, which began April 1, 2010 and ended in September 2010. The objectives of this project were different from Sisters in Spirit. They were to strengthen the ability of aboriginal women and girls across Canada to recognize and respond to issues of gender-based violence within their families and communities, as well as strengthen the ability of communities to break the cycle of violence.
In the summer of 2011 we received funding for Evidence to Action II, which is a three-year project that will be ending in April 2014.
To sum up, as the executive director, and having heard what you said—and you've heard what our president has stated as well—we are available to provide our expertise. If we don't have it at the office, we will get that expertise. We also think we should be part of the development of your final report.
We're here to help the committee. There is one thing, though. We do have one concern. We are against the legalization of prostitution. We have come out very strong on that. We have noted that one of the committee members does not hold the same position that we do. That may be conflictual. I don't know. But it's something that I think warrants further discussion.
Again, as our president said, although we will support the work of this parliamentary committee, we are still holding firm in our demand for a national public inquiry and a plan of action to delve into the whole issue in a more comprehensive and deeper manner.
Thank you.