Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome, Minister. We certainly are glad to have you with us today.
First of all, I want to assure you, as you know and all of us here know, that making people aware of the many issues facing women and girls is an important goal of this committee, and we are striving to make this happen. We certainly appreciate your leadership in this work and what we do together to make this all happen.
I noticed in your speech that you drew attention to the fact that ending all forms of violence against women and girls is a priority for our government and that we've taken significant steps to make our communities safer for women, girls and all Canadians. You also said that as per the recent Speech from the Throne, our government has introduced legislation that will give police and prosecutors new tools to address cyberbullying.
This is one issue that has received a lot of attention recently, that of aggressive behaviour toward young people over the Internet. We certainly are very familiar with this. The media has actively covered stories of cyberbullying and other forms of cyberviolence that often have tragic results.
Sadly, young women are most likely to be victimized by this modern form of violence. I know that concerned parents are actively looking for ways to help protect their children when they are online or using technology such as cellphones. Coming from a classroom and being a former teacher, I am very much aware of this. The issue is of great concern to all of us.
Could you please inform this committee on what Status of Women Canada is doing to equip Canadian communities with strategies to combat cyberbullying and cyberviolence?