Thank you, Chair.
I'd like to thank all the witnesses for taking the time to appear today. Your presentations were extremely interesting and sad.
I'd like to direct my first few questions to Ms. Mann.
I had an opportunity to read the 2005 report that was prepared for the Status of Women Canada, Aboriginal Women: An Issues Backgrounder. This isn't specific to the prostitution issue at this point, but I was very interested in your commentary under the “Matrimonial Real Property on Reserve” section. I would tend to agree that when there's family violence, of course, there is no option. If a marriage breaks down or a relationship breaks down, in a lot of cases, there's no provision for the sharing of the matrimonial home. In a lot of cases, this is an issue that leaves women in very violent situations because of a lack of any alternate housing.
I hope you can shed some light on this. The matrimonial property rights bill, Bill S-4, is working its way through the Senate. On the surface, while it's rather lengthy, it would appear to address this issue. But interestingly, when speaking with colleagues and some aboriginal people, it doesn't seem to enjoy the level of support from the aboriginal community, or at least not all of them, that I would have assumed it would.
Have you had any feedback or is there any information or insight you can offer the committee on what this particular bill lacks? Why does it not do what the aboriginal communities would perhaps like it to do?