Yes. I think it raises, certainly in my mind, a number of flags. Unfortunately, the department is in possession of the answers to the questions and all I can do is pose the questions.
We need to ask clearly how widely known the availability of the visa is. We need to know whether women are specifically counselled when they are rounded up by the police. Have the police received adequate training on the availability? What strings are attached to the visa? How many women have applied and been refused the visa? We need to know what other supports are being provided with the visa to assist the women. I don't think the one visa that's been issued has yet expired--I think we're still within the three-month period since its issuance--so what we don't know is what the provisions for long-term protection are for those women.
So a three-month visa is fine. It's important--a period of reflection for the woman to make some decisions, to begin her recovery--but we need to know whether in fact it will or could lead to some type of long-term status. As I said, the current mechanisms within Immigration are inadequate to deal with the kinds of problems that are presented by trafficked women.
When you submit H and C applications in Ottawa now, they are taking three years to be processed. The resources are just simply not there. You have no protection. So your three-month visa runs out and you still don't have your H and C application processed. What happens? Are you removed? There's no stay available. The Federal Court will not issue stays in most cases, and you can't get to the Federal Court without legal access to counsel.
So there are significant problems. I would say the fact that only one visa has been issued is probably indicative of a problem, but the department needs to answer some specific questions related to the visas.