As an Innu woman, I have a major concern. Love knows no borders. A number of aboriginal women are in common-law relationships with non-aboriginal partners. If this law is enforced and a verdict is reached, given all the problems facing our communities, including high rates of alcoholism and drug use, and if a woman experiences those problems and her partner is a Quebecker, he will have the right to live in the house.
So a Quebecker would be living in the house with the children. The woman would lose her children and they would be living in a community. Do you see how that could be a danger in aboriginal communities? That is the reality. I am not just talking about Quebeckers. It could affect other groups because more and more women have partners of different origins. So it can create such a gap in those communities. Women can lose everything, including their house and their children.
Joanne, do you have anything to add?