Thank you so much, Chair, and to everyone here.
Minister Ien, thank you for being here and for the work you're doing.
I have long said that firearm violence should be treated as a public health issue. We need to consider the burden of injury from firearm deaths. This includes guns and gangs, which get all the press, but it also includes suicides, which make up over 75% of firearm deaths, and domestic violence.
In 2016, the Ontario coroner's death review panel said that 26% of deaths in Ontario that related to intimate partner violence involved a firearm. I've spoken to them and that number is higher today. A peer-reviewed study was done in rural New Brunswick and P.E.I., and it found that two-thirds of the women whose homes had firearms said that knowing firearms were present made them fearful for their safety and well-being, and 70% said that it affected their decisions regarding whether to tell others or seek help for the abuse they received.
I wonder, Minister, if you could comment on what we need to do when it comes to firearms, because I think it's an aspect that often gets overlooked in conversations about this.