Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank all the presenters today. Indeed, it's very important that you're here today educating us and helping us on this very horrific crime that has to be stopped.
My first question is for Mr. Perrin.
I'm very interested in what you say about the human trafficking office. I would agree with you that there is absolutely no focal point with expertise, somewhere someone can go for assistance.
We talked about funding. Let's say, hypothetically, if an office such as this was set up, they would have input into the funding and where the funding should go.
I was meeting this morning with a group of people who took care of homeless shelters. As we all know, human-trafficked people need a shelter, but the shelters we currently have are not adequate. In my view, it needs to be shelters because they need some time. You can't just apprehend or rescue trafficked persons and then have them testify. It doesn't work. A lot of them are very afraid of police. They've been intimidated over months or years, and that doesn't work.
In terms of an office like this, where would you predict funding would go that would usefully address...?
I agree, number one, that the age of consent has to be raised. Number two, consent shouldn't even be an issue when people are apprehended. They are helpless victims of a horrific crime.
We have a unique situation here because some of these women also come with small children, if they become pregnant. One woman in Toronto I've been working with from Mexico has a 10-month-old daughter. There are different kinds of things these people need.
Could you comment on that, Mr. Perrin, in terms of shelters and the differences between what we know now and what should be there?