Thank you. On this important day, the 100th anniversary of some women receiving the right to vote, I think that question is particularly important.
Yes, we've come a long way, but we also have so far to go. Each of you around this table who's gone through the process has a great deal of expertise in this area, so I'm very much looking forward to your study and I'm very much looking forward to the recommendations. I think our most important job in this place is to inspire the next generation of leaders to come and do the work that we've come here to continue.
I think this study is important in many ways. I know that women in politics experience different barriers. We've heard from so many of them. We know that there are barriers around care work. We know that there are barriers around financial access. We know there are barriers in lack of role models. Unless she can see her, she cannot be her. When little girls see women like those around this table in positions of power and influence, as I can tell you my nine-year-old niece certainly does, they think to themselves: if they can do it, I can too. This is why it is so important for each of us to be mindful of the fact that we are leaders and we are role models and that little girls, boys, and gender diverse individuals are looking up to us to lead by example.
That's why I was saddened and, frankly, disturbed to see a member of the Status of Women committee take it upon herself to send cyber and mail violence to one of our colleagues around this table. That is not the way that public resources ought to be used. That is not the way we are expected to behave as politicians. Sure, we can disagree without being disagreeable. Sure, we can have different ideologies, but the disrespect and the online violence that we perpetrate against one another actually sets all of us back.
In terms of the work being done to further enhance women's leadership capacities. I will say we have a pot of money available—and this was announced last year—to support indigenous women's leadership. We're working with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to support a project or series of projects with them. We've invested close to $20 million in supporting women's leadership capacities, including young women, because they are leading today and they have important ideas that need to be heard. All of that work is being done. Your study will be very much appreciated and very timely, frankly, but unless as individuals we lead by example, we are not going to advance the cause that brings us together around this committee table, which is improving the status of women in Canada.