Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank you, Minister, for coming to our committee and for your very huge involvement in the human trafficking issue that which members on this committee have all participated in. As you know, there is soon going to be a report tabled in the House of Commons on this very initiative that you, as Minister for the Status of Women, are very eager to hear, and I thank you for that.
Also, it's very true—I am a former member of the Manitoba legislature, and indeed you were perfectly right—that ministers do come together provincially before they invite their federal counterparts, because they get all their ducks in line and talk about the issues they want to bring forward.
One thing that has come up over and over again on this committee, as you said, Madam Minister, is that many studies have been done and now it's time for action. Women have not had equal opportunity in Canada, and I thank you today for recognizing that and the fact that our government needs to take action. We believe women are equal; it's the opportunity that we have to work on.
I just came off a tour in Ontario. I talked to a number of women's groups that really are applauding the efforts you've put forward. There was no mention at all of their voices being muzzled. They felt quite free to come to Ottawa and quite free to write letters and quite free to talk to me. There was the good and the bad and the indifferent, but they were very appreciative of the action that is going forward from the Status of Women in a real-world way.
I am hoping that advocacy organizations will understand that certainly they continue their advocacy; they're just not paid to do it. Many people are starting to realize that and appreciate that.
Madam Minister, perhaps I could ask you to comment on this. Because of my tour in Ontario, I had such a positive response about the revisions of the terms and conditions.... It wasn't like what I'm hearing often here at the status of women committee; rather, women were very happy that they could actually apply. It was as though the world had opened, and organizations that didn't have the opportunity to apply before are able to apply.
I'm wondering what kind of response there has been since the terms and conditions of the women's program were revised, and whether you would be able to tell us how many applications have been received to date and how many you expect to receive in the short term.