Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, ladies and gentleman.
There is so much to be done in the area of the status of women that we must not get off track. The previous committee has already done a great deal of work. I believe Ms. Joy Smith was a member at the time.
I have reviewed the committee's reports from last year. I would like us to review the government's responses, first of all because we have a new government, and secondly because public servants had been assigned to establish procedures to respond to the committee's request.
Before turning to other matters, we must ensure that the work done by the committee in the last Parliament was fruitful. This is a problem. There is so much to be done, and we are proceeding without insuring that action has been taken in response to the previous committee's recommendations.
I would therefore like to move an official motion that we should start by appropriating the reports of the previous committee, not just reviewing them.
Last week, I believe we agreed—and we can check on the proceedings—to study an issue that everyone agrees on—namely aboriginal women. In Quebec, and no doubt in the other provinces as well, there is a committee of aboriginal women that has been fighting since 1974 for recognition of their rights. These women, and their offspring from aboriginal marriages, have no rights at the moment and they lose everything if they separate. This is extremely serious. This subject would lead us incidentally to discuss the rights of aboriginal women in federal prisons with respect to the Correctional Service of Canada as well as the issue of violence against aboriginal women.
In order to get agreement from all committee members, I think this could be our first item of business. I trust we will be talking about pay equity. However, we can table the four reports, and make them our own. There is reference to pay equity and to gender-based analysis.
So I would move that we appropriate the reports of the last committee, that we review them and that we follow up on them. I would also move that we focus on the rights of aboriginal women in Quebec, who have been waiting for recognition since 1974.