Status of Women committee  Thank you.

Status of Women committee  No.

Status of Women committee  Commissioner, I know when we did the study on the changes to the Divorce Act and custody, certainly there was very poignant testimony that if there's violence or if there's a par differential like that, the ADR process is sometimes not appropriate. People actually need to have a different route.

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much, and thank you for our testimony. I think the last comment was very important. Whether it's in cities...or in rural communities in particular, where everybody knows where somebody lives, unless there's 24/7 protection, a piece of paper doesn't really do it in those situations.

Status of Women committee  Jennifer, you talked about the difficulty in getting appropriate legal help and that there's sometimes a conflict. Tell us a little more about that, about access to legal help.

Status of Women committee  We hear from women that sometimes even with an emergency protection order it doesn't feel safe. The policing or the actual protection 24/7 isn't really possible, and if somebody wants to come, particularly in situations of abuse, it's pretty difficult in these kinds of remote communities.

Status of Women committee  We start with our sons.

Status of Women committee  I'm sure.

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you very much for your story. It is only through the stories that we can understand really the complexity of what you've been facing and what everybody can see is not fair. Fairness is what Canadians expect from us, but as you know, some of the advocacy organizations are concerned that even Wendy Grant-John, when she wrote the original report, felt that the non-legislative things needed to be in place.

Status of Women committee  The congress.

Status of Women committee  But within your organization, do you have any relationship with shelters in the urban centres?

Status of Women committee  Good question; we don't seem to know very much about it, other than that it seems to be helping first nations develop rules of their own. But we also are worried that instead of a comprehensive plan that would develop a real strategy for dealing with violence against women, and the menu of choices that women should have....

Status of Women committee  In these situations the question is that without access to legal aid, without supports and services, with a new law, how would she even deal with the band council or deal with decisions that are made? Across the country we are hearing that women don't see that the law can do this.

Status of Women committee  Do you think you should be?

Status of Women committee  Have you been asked about the centre of excellence?