Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for giving me a chance to clarify the response of the Government of Canada on this very important matter.
The government is deeply concerned about the unacceptably high number of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls in Canada and has been for many years. That concern is shared, I know, by many Canadians and by many members of this House, regardless of political stripe.
I would agree with the hon. member that this situation is unacceptable. It is a personal tragedy for family and friends, a cultural loss for communities that lose part of their future, and an unquantifiable loss for all Canadians who will never know which of these young lives might have ended up affecting us all. Quite simply, this situation cannot be ignored or allowed to continue.
I would remind members that it was the Government of Canada, through Status of Women Canada, that funded the initial research conducted by the Native Women's Association of Canada to determine the scope of the deaths and disappearances across Canada. When that research showed an alarmingly high number of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls, the Government of Canada not only acknowledged the seriousness of this tragedy but moved to take immediate and concrete action on this criminal justice priority. That was in 2010.
Today the Government of Canada has committed $25 million over five years for a seven-step strategy to improve community safety for aboriginal women and girls and to ensure that law enforcement and the justice system can better respond to cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls.
The government's response has to be seen against the broader context of other investments by the Government of Canada to address the underlying causes of violence facing aboriginal women and girls and their higher vulnerability to that violence.
I mentioned already the important work of the Native Women's Association of Canada on this issue. Its work builds on and complements the work of more than 45 studies, commissions, inquiries, and other reports, including the 1999 Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba, the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, the House of Commons status of women committee, the B.C. Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, and many others.
This government has committed to concrete action to resolve this issue and has renewed that commitment in the recent throne speech at the beginning of this session of Parliament. I look forward to the report of the Special Committee on Violence Against Indigenous Women this coming March.