Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and we will pause to reflect on the far too many women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality.
Sadly, Canadians need not look further than their own communities, and in some cases their own families, for the evidence of violence against women. As a recent Statistics Canada report made clear, it crosses social, economic and racial divides.
Canada's new government is taking concrete action to address this issue. Among recent initiatives, we have introduced legislation that would put an end to the use of conditional sentencing for serious offences, including sexual offences.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo our government has been assisting tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and girls, who have been sexually assaulted or tortured during more than 10 years of conflict.
I would ask all Canadians to renew our commitment to combat violence against women in Canada and throughout the world.