Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen members of the committee, thank you for inviting me, as well as my Deputy Minister, Suzanne Clément, and Suzanne Cooper, who are here with me. It is my pleasure to participate in the current discussion on maternal and child health.
I am proud that our government is committed to helping women in Canada and throughout the world, as demonstrated by the Prime Minister's leadership on the G8 initiative for maternal and child health.
While this particular initiative falls under the purview of my colleague, Minister Oda, in my role as Minister of the Status of Women, I believe that empowering women and fighting for equality, liberty, and an end to violence against women are not only ideals that we should be striving for in Canada but blessings that should be enjoyed by all women around the world.
Like Canadian women, all women deserve equality, access to education, a life free from hunger, disease or violence, and the right to know that their children are safe at school. These freedoms and possibilities should not be limited to women who are lucky enough to live in western countries, they should be available to women everywhere in the world.
That is why our government, for instance, pushed for the pardon of a Saudi woman sentenced to jail time and lashings for a crime as trivial as being present with men who were not her relatives. That is why we spearheaded a resolution at the United Nations that censures Iran for its systematic violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, including women.
And it is why our government has expressed deep concern about the unsatisfactory human rights situations in many countries, especially with respect to women's rights, and called on these countries to live up to their international obligations such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Through the work of our brave men and women in uniform and our allies, Canada is helping to greatly improve the lives of Afghan women and their families. We have now vaccinated more than 200,000 children and more than 175,000 women of child-bearing age against measles and tetanus.
The Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan has provided more than 418,000 Afghans--two-thirds of whom are women--with small loans to start businesses and build better lives. In a country where only eight years ago girls were denied access to formal education, there are now over two million little girls going to school. Also, our most basic and fundamental democratic right, the right to participate fully in the political life of their country, a right that Canadian women have enjoyed for over 90 years, is now enjoyed by all of Afghanistan's citizens--men and women included.
Improving the lives of girls and women around the world also includes standing up for their safety, rights, and dignity as individuals. Here at home, our government is emphasizing the equality of men and women under the law and condemning barbaric practices such as female genital mutilation, so-called honour killings, and all gender-based violence.
I am proud to be part of a government that is committed to ensuring that every woman is treated with respect and dignity, a government that speaks for those who have been silenced.
But our principled stands abroad never absolve us of our responsibility to address the many challenges that women face here at home.
Working towards eliminating violence against women and girls will remain a priority for me and for our government, as it should be for everyone in this room. We are a strong and determined voice promoting safer communities and environments for Canadian women. This is why one of the Women's Community Fund's priorities is to finance projects that support victims of violence, so as to help women and girls who are marginalized, frightened and abused and offer them real and positive opportunities, the results of which are life changing.
By providing this funding at the community level, we ensure that the needs of women in remote, rural, cultural, and urban communities are properly addressed so that we can work together to end this bane on our society.
This is in addition to some of the other measures our government is taking to protect vulnerable women, such as raising the age of consent from 14 to 16 years to protect young people, including girls, from sexual exploitation by adult predators.
We've strengthened the peace bond provisions concerning those previously convicted of sexual offences against children, and we have also improved the availability of testimonial aids for vulnerable adult victims and witnesses, including women who have experienced violence.
Human trafficking is an appalling crime that affects women, and particularly Aboriginal women, some of whom are not even 12 years of age.
The Criminal Code is being amended again in order to enact three specific provisions that would make it illegal to participate in human trafficking for the purpose of exploitation, such as forced sexual exploitation or forced labour, to acquire financial or material gains through human trafficking, and to dispose of or keep travel or identity documents for facilitating human trafficking.
These measures are designed to protect victims, many of whom are women.