Mr. Speaker, for 27 years the National Action Committee on the Status of Women has been a voice for Canadian women.
It was their hard work which helped to ensure that women are now guaranteed equality in the Constitution. When violence against women was seen as a private matter, NAC brought it out into the open and forced us to deal with it. Today our voice is threatened.
Status of Women seems to be delaying NAC's application for funding until it is forced to shut down. A month and a half ago the minister's office promised that NAC's application would be processed within a week. NAC is still waiting. The time for playing politics is over.
If this minister believes that women should have an independent voice, free from political interference, she has only one option. End the delays in processing NAC's application for funding, restore core funding for women's groups and reverse the cuts the government has made.