Thank you, Madam Chair, and my thanks to both of our witnesses today.
I'm going to be directing my question to you, Monsieur Poulin, and I'll apologize first off that I'll address you in English, because my French is
a “work in progress”.
First, I was startled by the statistics that you brought to us in regard to the degree to which the institutionalization of prostitution is occurring in other parts of the world, like Germany—and you also cited the numbers in Thailand.
Has there been any work done or could you relay any data that exists that might connect...? If the formalization of prostitution is going at such a pace in the world, presumably Canadian men are also availing themselves of this broader access to these types of services. To what degree is that activity impacting—I'll use Ms. Minna's word—the “objectification” of women and children here in our society?
This is an activity that's obviously on the increase. Has there been any link drawn to how that's impacting our attitudes and culture here in Canada? I was surprised at the extent to which this phenomenon is actually gaining pace in the world.