Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  The Sisters in Spirit initiative continues to this day. There's a little bit of confusion, I think, in that the Government of Canada funded it for five years, but it belongs to, and always has belonged to, the Native Women's Association of Canada. Sisters in Spirit, of course, continues to this day.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  We would agree. Yes.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  I'm positive that your Library of Parliament people will also give you advice on that, but the department would be pleased to take it under advisement, if that's useful to you, to provide you with a list of the major reports we rely on.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  The Department of Justice worked with the Aboriginal Research Institute and with some 13 other individual contractors. We had information from a lot of communities that were applying for funding, not just to the Department of Justice funds but to other funds—that they were facing barriers and frustrations in setting forward a proposal and then getting feedback that it wasn't of interest.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  My apology, but is that a question?

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  With respect, in many instances there are a lot of studies that are showing the root causes. If you look at the backgrounder B to the original October 2010 announcement on the seven-step strategy for missing and murdered aboriginal women, it sets out some of the more commonly agreed on root causes.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Yes. As any policy officer in government, part of my duty is to collect information that is publicly available. I include reports, studies, any information publicly available on an issue that I'm studying. In studying the issue of violence against aboriginal women, the cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women are extremely important.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  I can try. I will say that this question would most likely be better answered by both my colleagues at Public Safety Canada and at Statistics Canada. With regard to the statistics more generally, I believe not just that study but a number of studies emphasize the need for information gathering.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss an issue of grave concern to the Government of Canada and the Department of Justice Canada. My name is Lisa Hitch. I am the Senior Counsel at the Family, Children and Youth Section of the Department of Justice Policy Sector.

Status of Women committee  What I can say again is to undertake one more time to get you that information. The Department of Justice has been working for many years with judicial education institutions to talk about mandatory training, but of course, as you realize, training is done at arm's length from the Department of Justice, within the judicial community.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  We are now at something more than 1,500 lawyers, so I may not be aware of all of the studies the department is doing. I can certainly undertake to get back to you on whether there is such a study within the department.

Status of Women committee  Forgive me, but I will answer in English, if you do not mind. It is a bit hard for me to answer in French. This is not my area. I am not working with the criminal law. I can tell you that there are programs within the department, as the minister mentioned, that specifically look at and try to deal with the issue of overrepresentation of aboriginal people, men and women, within the justice system.