Mr. Speaker, in the 1970s, women suffering from violence were too often forced to live in fear for their own safety and for the safety of their children. A brave and determined group of women did something about it. With no money and little support, Ardis Beaudry, Janet Currie, Thérèse Dallaire-Laplante, Nicole Thauvette, Lorraine Kenaschuk, Natalie McBride and Lynn Zimmer founded the first women's shelters in Canada. The stories of these women, who are being honoured in Ottawa this week, were captured in Margo Goodhand's wonderful book, Runaway Wives and Rogue Feminists.
Today there are over 550 women's shelters in Canada, a great testament to these incredible pioneers, who believed that society had a duty to intervene and led the way. We all owe these amazing women our gratitude.