Lorie and Wendy, I forget now which one of you sent that moving document for us to read. I live in rural Newfoundland. I live pretty well 15 minutes from anywhere, and you made me lock my door last night because I was...wow, that can happen anywhere.
When we speak about women in rural areas, how different is it for women in geographic isolation? I'm looking for your answer now. How does that affect the ability of women living in rural areas to access emergency and support services? You mentioned how the RCMP and the police services are so far away, but are there other things as well?
When we talk about connectivity, one thing we've heard in some of the other testimony.... I love to tell this story, and my colleagues have heard it from me before. My mother always put a quarter in my backpack, long before the days of cellphones, so that if needed, I would have a quarter to make a phone call. Well, we don't have phone booths anymore, so in our work on connecting the country, do we need to have, in communities, areas where women in need, looking for protection, have a community Internet connection that's safe and secure, be it in a town library, a town hall, a women's shelter? Is that important for women in your area?
I'll go to all of you on that.