Justice committee  I would echo that. I would also say the ombudsman is a key part of the response to ensure that victims' and survivors' rights are respected. However, in the gender-based violence context, so too are a lot of frontline service providers. LEAF has called for sustained core funding

Justice committee  I would say there has been significant funding provided lately, which is very much appreciated and has allowed for increased capacity building in this sector. However, I think that sustained core funding not tied to individual projects is something that will allow organizations t

Justice committee  Certainly, and I would commend to the committee Morrell Andrews, who will be appearing on Thursday and who really is a leader and an expert in this area. I would just note that the most important thing for moving forward is for survivors to be able to have meaningful choices in

Justice committee  Thank you for that question. I think it goes back to the point I raised earlier with respect to the national action plan to end gender-based violence. Thinking about minimum standards and how we respond to victims and survivors in a consistent and appropriate manner across the

Justice committee  I think it would be—and other witnesses have shared this—very important to consult with survivors and victims in order to get a sense of where they're coming from. The challenge with anything automatic is that survivors and victims all have different needs, so a one-size-fits-all

Justice committee  One of the things we see is that gender-based violence touches members of all communities regardless of how new one is to Canada or how long one has been here. It's important to keep in mind how different systems of oppression work within this country and how they influence the l

Justice committee  Thank you very much for the question. I think it is always important to have more information as opposed to less, and to have a sense of how our systems are working and not working for survivors. I think that having an ombudsperson who is able to do that sort of work in assessin

Justice committee  Thank you. Good morning, committee members. My name is Kat Owens, and I am a project director at the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, or LEAF. I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you today from Tkaronto, or Toronto, which is within the lands protected by t