Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank the witnesses for joining us for this important study.
Ms. Bookchin and Ms. De Fina, we can't say enough about your extremely challenging work, let alone your testimonies. Without you, I don't think that these women would pull through. Again, thank you.
My first questions are for Ms. Bigaouette and Ms. St‑Pierre‑Gaudreault from the Fédération des maisons d'hébergement pour femmes. I'm happy to see them here today.
In your brief, you stated that shelters have become “real safety infrastructure” for women. However, you pointed out that these resources remain underfunded and overburdened.
In concrete terms, how does this affect the safety of women and children? You touched on this briefly in your opening remarks. However, I would like to give you the opportunity to talk about this again.