Mr. Speaker, I was in Malawi three years ago with the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, and I sat in front of a group of women who were begging our association to speak out in Malawi about the issue of early and forced marriage.
I was in Dakar, with the Prime Minister, for the Summit of the Francophonie, and we were taken to a museum where our whole delegation was shown the pictures of girls who had been forced into early marriage.
I was at the Girl Summit in England last summer, with David Cameron, where the topic of early and forced marriage was the topic of the day.
Our government has put this issue on the table. Our former foreign minister took this to the United Nations and said that Canada was going to lead on this. We are leading on child protection globally. We have put maternal, newborn, and child health on the table, and we have a number of other donor countries that are helping us with this.
Early and forced marriage is one of the issues that goes against the grain of protecting children. I wonder if my colleague has any comments on why Canada should not take issue with it here at home when we are being so vocal on the world stage.