Mr. Speaker, according to the Disabled Women' Network, the rates of sexual violence, physical and verbal violence, and systemic violence are at least three times higher for young women and girls living with disabilities. One in five women in Canada lives with a disability, and they suffer the highest rates of poverty and unemployment.
The Prime Minister has stated repeatedly over the last year that his goal is to build a stronger, more inclusive Canada. If he is serious, here is where he must start. He must ensure that the proposed federal strategy against gender-based violence, as well as the Canadian poverty reduction strategy, which should really be poverty elimination strategy, are well and properly funded and completely accessible to women and girls living with disabilities. If we are serious, if Canada is to become more inclusive, then everything we do in government, every law and every policy, must be viewed through the lens of disability. This lens must be gendered; it has to be.