Mr. Speaker, today is the ninth annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes: International Men's March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence, hosted by White Ribbon in Toronto. I stand here today in high heels to support these walkers.
Our former NDP Leader, Jack Layton, was one of the co-founders behind the White Ribbon campaign. Now in 70 countries, men and boys are working in the prevention of violence against women and girls, with more than 4,700 Canadians who were involved in workshops and speaking engagements.
Sadly, women and girls continue to face crisis levels of violence in Canada, with rates of violence against women remaining largely unchanged over the past two decades. Canada has fallen behind many countries when it comes to prevention and protection of women and girls against gender violence, and successive governments have failed to do enough to make this a priority. This needs to change
We urge the Canadian government to demonstrate leadership by walking the talk and dedicating resources to meet Canada's long-standing domestic, international, and constitutional commitments to make a safer world where women and girls live free of violence.