Thank you, Madam Chair.
I do want to acknowledge that shelters are an important component of what the Government of Canada is addressing, with $55.6 million announced for over a five-year period to invest into shelters. Just recently, $2.2 million more was dedicated to support the construction of five new shelters, including one here in Manitoba.
So I agree with what you said, Ms. Forbes, that shelters need to be available, because it's certainly something that will help these women get the resources they need.
Ms. Michell mentioned earlier that young girls don't wake up one morning and decide that they want to be prostitutes. The reason I bring this up is that the Government of Canada agrees that these are victimized women and that there are a number of things that have to come into play to protect them. What the government is responsible for doing is finding ways to do that, including legislation. The matrimonial real property legislation has been put forward. I believe many of the women who are missing or were murdered left reserves because they didn't have any rights, came to urban settings where they don't have transition centres, etc., and became exploited because of their vulnerabilities. They then became our missing or murdered. That is why it's so important that we have police and all these other agencies working together. So we're going to push forward with that bill to try to give rights back to aboriginal women on reserve, and the grandmothers are those women who are going to help us make sure those rights are given back.
Now let's talk about the kids at the other end, the small kids, and about what we're doing to capture them, to protect them. I'm in total agreement that taking them out of their families is a horrible, horrible situation, which is why I'd like Ms. Loeppky to describe the prevention-based approach. This is a new approach, and I believe $177 million has been invested here in Manitoba so that we can look at a different system. The CFS system before of taking them out of the homes was not working, so a new system has come about.
Perhaps you could describe that for us, Ms. Loeppky, and tell us why you think that might help these young girls from becoming further victims.