Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his comments. I say to the member: why make an exception? We are here to defend the integrity of all women and all children. Why come up with an exception? If we agree that female genital mutilation is illegal, if we prohibit it here and if it is not practised here in this country, why would we make an exception and put an age limit whereby a woman over eighteen years of age would have the right to have that surgical procedure done to her?
As I said, and I may not have made it clear enough, there are certain cultures which resort to what we call brainwashing. Women are told: "You will not find a husband if you do not go along with this practice". Women who want to marry see this as cultural information and think the practice is an acceptable one. So, they will ask that it be performed on them.
We say that here in Canada we do not want this to be done to anyone, whether the person is 18, 5 or 40 years old. The bill introduced by my colleague sought, as she pointed out, to ensure that this practice would not be tolerated in Canada, regardless of age.