Ms. Jacobs has spoken about how people in Canada suffer. A lot of suffering occurs because people are not able to reach their potential.
But I would also add that the country as a whole is held back economically to a certain extent when people who are marginalized are not allowed, for whatever reason, to reach their potential. Whether it's because they belong to a minority group or as women, often they're not treated the same as a white man. If that comes on from the day you're born—because you're governed unfairly by the Indian Act, for example—many roadblocks are put in your path that make it much more difficult to achieve equality in our society.
I was reading up about sexual assault. At the end of the day, Stats Canada suggests, it costs a few billion dollars to the Canadian economy every year in both direct and indirect costs; it's also very hard to enumerate.
That's just sexual assault. If we look at how minority groups are treated, how people such as francophones are treated at times, and how aboriginal persons and women are treated in our society, think about the economic cost. As a politician, I may not vote for something, because a lot of times politicians and people will just look at the money. If you look at the money, there's a very good reason for the court challenges program and a very good reason to continue to push for equality.