Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  The initiatives of the RCMP and Public Safety are separate from the Justice initiatives. There's a general coordination of information across the government. The seven-point strategy is not all the work the Government of Canada is doing in this area. There are initiatives at Abor

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  No, that the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women is a priority for the government. I think the political statement has been made. With regard to the NWAC funding, as I was explaining, I think there is an understandable confusion between Sisters in Spirit and NWAC, bec

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Sisters in Spirit is and always has been an initiative of the Native Women's Association of Canada, but what I mean is that the government's funding continues to NWAC. Although I understand people have mentioned that the Sisters in Spirit work is no longer being funded, what's ha

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  I could mention that those will be addressed in my colleagues' presentations next week, with the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Certainly. The seven-point strategy is essentially the content of the October 2010 announcement. There are a number of initiatives that were taken by Public Safety Canada. There was the setting up of the new National Support Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains a

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Yes. I'm sure a number of other witnesses will be appearing before you who can explain it better than I can. These concepts are repeated in many studies, including, I would say, one of my favourites—forgive me—the Four Worlds Center for Development Learning report on aboriginal

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  I apologize, but that is a question that is better directed to my minister and his colleagues. In general terms, I can say that to date Minister Nicholson has indicated that responding to missing and murdered aboriginal women is a pressing concern. During the debate for setting

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  My apologies, but it really depends. I suppose my opening remarks went back and forth between violence against aboriginal women and the missing and murdered aboriginal women. I would say that generally what's happening is that the departments are very well aware of the fact tha

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  I should just track back for one second and apologize. To reiterate, the Government of Canada has said on many occasions, both Minister Nicholson and Minister Toews, that this is a priority for the federal government. So I do believe that the political statement—

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Again, it's really difficult to answer that question because the root causes are so varied. It's impossible to compare housing, shelters, economic development. Some of the large initiatives that have to be undertaken...even the family violence programming, which I'm sure my colle

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Certainly. When the announcement went out in October 2010 that the government was adopting a seven-step strategy in response to the NWAC research results, the government felt it was extremely important to situate the $25 million over five years, which was for specific initiativ

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  I would agree that what you're identifying is a concern. It has been identified in a number of reports and studies. It's also been identified in a number of federal-provincial-territorial committees. We are working to try to cut across the silos between sectors by looking at the

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  Are you asking me whether there's a group of ministers who are addressing—

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  The process across government is more at the officials level, because what the officials are doing is finding that it's quite logical that we're overlapping and we're leaving gaps. Everyone is aware of that issue and is working to resolve it. I think the one thing I would advi

Special Committee on Indigenous Women committee  With respect, I understand the frustration. I think we all feel that frustration of being the sole voice, but I would say that it has been one of the most powerful aspects, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, and one of the reasons why we have certain studies that we rely on mo