Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the inquiry by my friend from Vancouver Island North because he has identified one of the very serious issues confronting our society as a whole but particularly concentrated in some aboriginal communities, the whole issue of fetal alcohol syndrome and the victims of it.
It is fair to say that any individual suffering from the results of fetal alcohol syndrome will have a difficulty functioning well in society. People who have difficulty functioning in society often tend to be marginalized, tend to get into situations where there is very little hope in terms of having a successful future, and therefore often turn in desperation to acts of violent crime. Particularly they get caught up in substance abuse issues in their own communities or homes and violent crimes.
The member has done the debate a great deal of service by flagging an issue that is not only of concern to us all but probably ought to be much more of a concern: the ramifications of substance abuse generally in our communities. I thank my friend from Vancouver Island North. That is a positive aspect of this debate. We are all putting items on the table for consideration in the hopes that somebody somewhere is listening.