Article 3 of the convention says that signatories to the convention are to take all appropriate measures to advance the equality of women. That essentially puts an obligation on the Canadian government as a signatory to take proactive measures, to take steps to ensure that women advance to equality. The court challenges program is one of those steps it has taken. Now it has de-funded the program. It's required, under article 2, to have legal measures and mechanisms in place to ensure that women can exercise their rights to equality. Again, the court challenges program is clearly one such measure. The de-funding of the program, then, would contravene that obligation.
I will be most interested when Canada is reviewed again to see what the CCR committee has to say if the de-funding is still in place. I hope it is not.
I'd like to remind the committee, so I'm turning to the Conservative members of the committee to ask them very sincerely to reconsider this de-funding. It's essential to women in Canada that we have access to the exercise of those rights. I want to remind the members that when the program was cancelled before, in 1992 by Kim Campbell, she then reconsidered and changed her mind. She said in 1993 that if the Conservatives were elected they would reinstate the program.
I think that's extraordinarily important, because I think it's fundamental to the exercise of rights in this country.