Thank you.
I share your concern. I've followed with interest some of the stories that we all know about with women who have been severely bullied online, perhaps through sharing activities that should remain private, etc. It's an extremely concerning issue. It's under-reported. Many women and girls suffer in silence. In particular, young girls are extremely vulnerable. We live in a digital world that we don't fully understand yet. We don't fully understand how powerful the tool is and what the consequences are on the private lives of girls.
As a person who has been a young woman, I can imagine what it's like when you take schoolyard bullying to the next level and it becomes bullying at a global level, and when anybody can have access to anything you've ever said or done.
This is an area that I would encourage the committee to spend some time looking at, because any federal strategy needs to include the reality that women are facing digital violence on a regular basis.
Look at some of the women that are commenting on violence on Twitter, for example. One woman I met, Julie Lalonde, who has taken on the issue of gender-based violence in a digital world, has had incredible.... If you follow her Twitter feed, you'll see that it's unbelievable what gets thrown at her.
She is committed to raising and elevating this issue, and she stays online despite the fact that she has been threatened, harassed, smeared, stalked—you name it.
I would encourage this to be part of your deliberations. As we move forward into this brave new world, how do we protect the women and girls, especially the young girls, who are coming up in this world? It is almost like a lawless wild frontier.
There was also recently another case in which some women pursued legal action against a man who had been extremely violent on Twitter. He was found not guilty.
These are the kinds of things we need to look at in terms of legislation, in terms of protective measures, in terms of education, and in terms of prevention.
Thank you. That's an excellent question.