Thank you, Madam Chair.
We do indeed have a lot on our plate. If I understood correctly, we have three themes to explore. The first is the economic security of older women, which ties in with the whole question of unpaid work that I've already raised in this forum. This will allow us to look at employment insurance. As I indicated to you, there are 238,000 women in Canada who do not receive employment insurance, but who pay EI premiums.
We'll also have an opportunity to examine the budget of Status of Women Canada. Three or four years ago, this Office did some analyses of employment insurance, although its findings where not released at the time.
Violence against women is a critically important topic. However, by studying the economic security of older women, we would also be touching on this theme indirectly. I remind you that when an older women has no income security, she is the victim of a certain form of violence. I propose that the committee, for all of the reasons I mentioned, examine the economic security of older women and in so doing, it can broach subjects such as women and the justice system, access to legal aid, women and employment insurance and women and health care. We could touch on all of these themes.
In conclusion, Madam Chair, I want to say that for the past several years, in conjunction with my duties in the House of Commons, I have been working with women's groups in Canada and in Quebec. When we reconvene for the fall session, I think we could quickly address a number of irritants. I think that would make women's groups very happy.
That concludes my remarks.