Yes, I understand the bill you're talking about, and the reason we are very concerned about the bill is that it gives a lot of power to the RCMP, rather than to the women in the community.
This is especially true of the women on reserves who stand to lose their homes sometimes. They can just tell them to get out of their homes with their children if it's deemed to benefit the men. That's why at the national level the Native Women's Association of Canada has rejected the whole agreement and the report on matrimonial property. That's one of the areas that really concerns us.
In the Northwest Territories we have some land claim areas. We don't even know if there's any section in there to address women in their homes. Right now the woman is the one who has to flee all the time, and the man stays home. I've seen it many times, because I worked at the shelter when it first opened in Fort Smith.
Sutherland House was the first one that opened. I was the executive director there. I remember that it was always women. Some of them showed up with their six children, and the men stayed home. It's still the case today that it's the women who have to flee their homes. So that's one area that really concerns us. That's why the agreement on MRP really concerns many women in aboriginal communities and on reserves.