Madam Speaker, on any given night in Canada, more than 350 women and children fleeing domestic violence are turned away, because shelters are underfunded and bursting at the seams.
Imagine the strength it takes to flee abuse. Imagine the heartbreak of shelter workers having to tell women there is a six-month waiting list for counselling. It is unacceptable.
Violence against women costs Canada $12 billion a year. One in four women will be victims in their lifetime. Indigenous and disabled women experience a much higher level of violence than anyone else in Canada.
We wear orange to honour the United Nations international day to end violence against women, and we give deepest thanks to shelter operators like Haven Society in Nanaimo. We will keep pressing the Liberal government to turn its feminist words into real action, and recommit that Canada's goal must be the eradication of violence against women. We will not stop until that is done.