For FAFIA, we're a membership organization. We have local organizations across the country. The cuts to Status of Women Canada and the closure of those regional offices, combined with the changes in what will and will not be funded, are having a tremendous effect on our members.
I will read to you an e-mail that I received from a member in the north, in the Yukon. She says:
Instead of accessing service from Vancouver with staff that know and understand the conditions and issues in the Yukon,
--so it used to be that there was an office in Vanouver--
we will be competing for service out of Edmonton by staff who will be stretched to the limit given the huge geographic area they will be required to serve with no new staff. We were already underserved. The changes that are required to help women in the North require systemic changes, and do not happen woman by woman.
That's just one small example. FAFIA feels that the local organizations are getting hit doubly. Not only do they have to deal with the mandate changes, but they're now having to deal with lack of regional offices.