Status of Women committee  Just on forced marriages...? Well, I'm going to be presenting next week to the Senate committee on zero tolerance, as they're calling it. We're very upset, very disturbed. It's very discriminatory, but we'll talk about that another time. It's how the government is dealing with such an issue.

Status of Women committee  Thank you. Yes, we did.

Status of Women committee  About $300,000 for two years.

Status of Women committee  It just finished in October.

Status of Women committee  As I mentioned, first of all, we always make sure that, because we are addressing the needs of Canadian Muslim women, we educate them—as the people from Calgary were saying—that patriarchy is not acceptable either in Canada or within Islam, so we stress that by having an Islamic scholar always work with us.

Status of Women committee  I think the best practice is that these women—these are all volunteers who provided the workshops—have to be supported by some paid staff, and unfortunately, that's where the funds come in. We didn't have enough. For example, we have this tool. It was tremendous. We said we would do, I think, eight or ten workshops, and we ended up doing 25 or 29 across the country.

Status of Women committee  The Canadian Council of Muslim Women is grateful for this opportunity to address the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Violence against women is a complex, yet, simultaneously, a simple issue. If as a society and a country we believe in human rights for all, including equality under the law, then it is a matter of political will to ensure that any violence against women and girls is addressed.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Sure.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Okay, I'll go ahead and give you my presentation, then. Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Mine is eight minutes; I have it timed exactly.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As you can understand, our interest is not in strengthening the immigration program but to express our concerns about the vulnerability of the sponsored woman, to see how she can be protected, and to suggest positive actions for her settlement in her new life in Canada. Allow me to tell you a little bit about our organization.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, I'm going to make a suggestion. I don't mind at all.... I've come from Kingston, and I would rather not present just now. This cutting off is rather difficult for all of you, but it's also difficult for us, because we've done a lot of work in order to give you a presentation.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  But there was also this thing that we would have time for communication between you and us. If that's not possible....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I hate to disagree with someone who is for democracy, but I wish your language was a little less inflammatory with reference to words like “sharia”, “gender apartheid”, and so on. We were the organization that fought against the Muslim family law in Ontario and got it, but it was a big fight.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I seem to be repeating myself, I think, even this discussion again. There is no one Muslim community; there are Muslim communities. I think CAIR Canada has their own opinions, and they can express them. I don't think they are an illegitimate group. You're hearing different opinions today, but I think certain fundamentals should be heard here.