I'd like to call the meeting to order.
This is the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. It's an all-party committee, which means that all four political parties are represented. It is not a partisan committee. We are here to gather information. We are here to listen and we're here to see what Parliament has to say and recommend about the issue. We're looking at violence against aboriginal women, the high levels of violence. We're looking at the root causes of that violence and wanting to know what the extent of the violence is, the types of violence, and the nature of the violence.
We're hoping we could have some solutions. When we as a committee agreed to do this we believed that there has been a lot of money and funding and all sorts of programs put forward in the past, and it has had very little effect. So we would like to see an effective solution to these problems.
Each of you will have five minutes to present, and then we have a question and answer period. If we are going to finish so that we can go to the next panel I'm going to have to be really strict with your answers and with my colleagues on their questions.
So now we'd like to begin with Commissioner Bill Robinson of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Commissioner Robinson, five minutes, please.