Thank you, Niki.
Of course it's important to tie economic policies to social policies. That's the only way we're really going to be able to address these issues. Certainly, bringing up the issue of a national disability benefit and/or a national guaranteed income is something that's been on the table and has really become urgent during the pandemic.
It was quite clear—of course many people on this parliamentary committee will be familiar with the fact—that there is no national disability benefit now, and that, in fact, women and girls with disabilities were and continue to be the poorest. The lowest incomes in this country belong to women and girls with disabilities. Single mothers with disabilities and older women with disabilities are the poorest people in our country. Again, these are also the same people who are experiencing the highest rates of gender-based violence and all forms of violence. The majority of human rights complaints in this country have been disability-related for more than a decade. There's absolutely nothing left except to start to do the work at this point.
I'm so glad you brought forward, Niki, the issue of financial resources. We've heard already from the other witnesses about how important it is for women who are fleeing violence to have basic income security. In cases of women with disabilities, often part of the reason they can't flee is that they don't have the means to flee; they're dependent on the other person or the other person is controlling their finances. This is a really important thing to build into the national action plan and into anything we're going to do going forward.
I want to leave time, of course, for the other witnesses. Thank you.