There is one thing I wanted to bring to the attention of the committee today before we adjourn. On February 21 I had a meeting with Minister Oda, and part of the discussion was about the loss of the policy research fund. I had spoken to a number of women who had done extensive work, the work was almost to the point where it was to be published, and they received notification that the work could not go ahead. I spoke to the minister about it, and she assured me that all work currently in process would indeed come to fruition and be completed and released. I've heard back from at least two of these women that they received letters from Status of Women Canada that their work will not proceed.
I think it's very important, (a), to get clarification, and the minister assured me this was not the case; and, (b), obviously a great investment has gone into the report, the research in terms of what the women themselves have done, and also the investment by SWC.
I'm very concerned about this and I'm not sure how to proceed. Perhaps we need to have the minister come back and explain. This is important research that is almost ready to go. It's being thwarted, and I think we need to know why.