Sir, as a former school trustee in the Winnipeg School Division, I can personally attest to the number of women and children who were flung away from reserve homes and thrown into the city. It's the largest school division in Manitoba. Of the 34,000 children we took care of, 25% were aboriginal, and of those, a very high percentage were people who had been turfed and dispossessed of all their rights to remain on the reserve. So I really respect your passion and your willingness to try to move forward.
I want to get your response again. You were talking about the protection of women suffering violence and your frustrations as a law enforcement officer. In your testimony you made a couple of comments. One was that you take the offender out. You also said the woman would then have rights to the home.
There has been much talk about shelters and how wonderful they are, but I think if I were an abused woman I'd rather have the home for my children, to maintain stability and a semblance of family upon the demise of the relationship, than be forced into a temporary shelter.
I'd like you to speak to those several points as well, sir.