I'll chase you if the bells ring. How's that? I can do that. Believe me.
I want to thank you very much for inviting the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. As many of you are aware, we have members across the country, and we work with women who have been marginalized, women who are victimized, women who are criminalized, and women who are institutionalized. You often know of our work because of the work that we do with women in prison, but some of our members are the only organizations providing work and assistance to victims in some of their areas, particularly in the western part of the country.
What you probably also know is that women are the fastest-growing prison population in this country. When we look at those women and the link to this issue, we know that more than 80% of the women who are in custody have a history of physical and/or sexual abuse. They've experienced violence in their lives as children and/or as adults. That figure goes up to 91% if we talk about aboriginal women alone.
As the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples has found and as the United Nations has documented—and I certainly underscore the testimonies of other witnesses here today and other witnesses who have appeared before you—it's well documented that the high rates of violence against women, and in particular against aboriginal women and other racialized women, are linked to systemic discrimination, both on the basis of sex and race, but also on the basis of disability and sexual orientation, and on the basis of immigration and refugee status. We know that their economic and social deprivation is directly linked to their experiences and their vulnerability. So I'm going to—
Are those the lights I see going? Have the bells started?