I will call the meeting to order.
I don't know if Suzanne Chartrand is here. We have Shannon Cormier, Val James, and Leslie Spillett.
Good morning, everyone. I've called the meeting to order. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), this committee, the status of women committee, is an all-party committee. This means that the members of this committee come from the four political parties in the House. It is a non-partisan committee, as parliamentary committees are meant to be, and we are looking at a study of violence against aboriginal women.
You will meet the various members of the committee. When they begin to ask questions, I will introduce them to you. I am Hedy Fry, the member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, and I chair this committee.
It was a unanimous decision by the committee to undertake this study, following on some of the statistical data that we saw from Sisters in Spirit after they had gone around the country and gathered evidence. What we are looking for specifically, which I hope you will address, is the root causes of what seems to be an extraordinary amount of violence against aboriginal women, and not just the root causes, but the nature of that violence, the extent of that violence, and the types of violence. We hope you will also help us with what you consider to be some of the solutions, either preventative or rehabilitative or dealing with the issue from various points of view. I'm hoping that you can explore that very well.
What we're going to do is what we normally do in committee. We give each of you five minutes to present. There are only three groups who are presenting, so if you will tell me who is presenting from your group, with three people you will then have seven minutes. I will give you a two-minute signal and then a one-minute signal so you can wrap up what you're going to say.
After you present, there will be a question and answer period. There will be questions from the members of Parliament and you can answer. If we do well, we may be able to have two rounds. Sometimes we can get in three rounds of questions.
I'd like to start off, then, and I don't know how to pronounce this, so you can perhaps help me: Ikwe Widdjiitiwin--