Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Elk Island for giving me the opportunity to perhaps try to finish my presentation.
I will give a few quick statistics about the issue of spousal assault and domestic violence.
According to Statistics Canada, tragically there were about 75 spousal homicides in 1997. Eight out of 10 victims of spousal homicide were women who were killed by a current or ex-husband. Over 60 women died in 1997 at the hands of their past or current spouse. That is what those hard statistics mean.
Spousal killings are often preceded by a history of violence. Between 1991 and 1996 police officers were aware of previous domestic violence between the victim and the suspect in over half of all spousal homicides, 56%. Homicides involving family members totalled 4,193.
There is an existing program to try and help those people where their lives are most in jeopardy, especially women. There is an ad hoc program by the Department of Human Resources Development and Revenue Canada which I support. But it does not have a legislative mandate and it does not have funding.
I would like to quote from an article that was in the Vancouver Province on Sunday, January 31, 1999.
In 1992, two federal government employees started New Identities for humanitarian reasons, said Liliane Binette, a spokeswoman for Human Resources Development Canada.
“It's a very special process within HRDC and Revenue Canada to assist victims in real life-threatening situations wishing to establish new identities,” she said.
While it's not an official program, a handful of staff in provincial government vital statistics branches, police departments, and women's shelters know who to contact when they come across an extreme case of family violence...It's kept secret to protect the women and the staff who handle the cases, and to prevent against the possible abuse of the process by people trying to escape creditors.
Because it isn't publicized or official, there is no formal application process, explained Binette. They take only those women who are referred to them by police and shelters; women whose situations have landed them in hospitals, shelters and police interview rooms many, many times.
Revenue Canada ensures their income tax history and child tax benefits follow them into their new lives without linking them to their past names; and HRDC provides them with a new social insurance number and transfers their pension benefits.
The people who work on New Identities hope it will soon get official program status and some money.
That is the purpose of my private member's Bill C-494. Its purpose is to try to give that very important program, which I certainly applaud and the initiative of the two employees, some official status and start to firmly address the issue of spousal abuse in the more horrendous cases at least.