Welcome to the twelfth meeting of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Today we are talking about eating disorders amongst girls and women.
I would like to let committee members know that we have agreed to change how we organize our meetings with witnesses. Going forward, we will have witnesses from four organizations for a period of two hours, which will give us more time for questions and encourage discussion. It was not possible to implement this change for today's meeting because the videoconference rooms and the witnesses were not available, but we will start doing things this way as of February 24, 2014.
I would also like to update everyone on our witnesses. The invitation process is going well. Only two organizations, the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, have refused our invitation, and that is because they are not available. Nevertheless, these organizations have chosen to present briefs to the committee, which could contribute to our study.
In our first hour today, we will hear from Noelle Martin, president and professor at Brescia University College, which is affiliated with Western University, and Joanna Anderson, executive director of Sheena's Place.
Thank you for being here today. You each have 10 minutes for your presentation.
We will start with Noelle Martin.