Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for being here, mesdames.
I find it very hard to listen to what you have to say because, like many Quebec and Canadian women, I'm not familiar with the situation of aboriginal women. Like a number of you, when aboriginal people complained, I thought they were wrong to do so, that they already had enough, that is until Hélène Gabriel came to my office and told me the history. In fact, we don't know the history. History isn't taught in the schools. We don't know what happened.
So, like every good white person, I think we're the bosses and we know better how to take care of you. So we continue to do the same thing. The Sisters in Spirit have done an outstanding job. The aboriginal communities are doing an outstanding job with what little resources they have. I went to Iqaluit to meet with the people from the shelter. I was fascinated by the ability of the people who work there, despite the fact that the women who live there have to stay there for months—not weeks, but months—because there are no halfway houses. If they are sent back home, they are sent back to violence.
Currently they say there is $10 million, but we don't give it to you because we don't know how to take care of you. We know how to stop violence. Once again it's us, the whites who are going to tell you how to stop the violence. I have a lot of trouble accepting that. We lead you to believe that there is money for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, in the health sector. If there is money, we should give it to you. We lead you to believe that there is $10 million for the Sisters in Spirit. If that money is there, let's give it to you and stop leading people to believe things, telling stories and saying whatever and give you the money because you are the ones who know how to heal, how to take the measures you have to take to ensure that women no longer experience this violence. I've had enough! Pardon me, but I had to say that.
Don't you see you're in the best position to know how to help women get away from violence?