Justice committee  If we were to look at this as a legitimate job and we were to have job fairs at universities, I highly doubt this would be a successful job fair booth that we would want to see as options for our children in future generations to be going to. I would not want to see it legitimized in any way so that we would be telling our children that if they had one job at McDonalds and couldn't work anywhere else, a brothel was available, and that rather than going on EI they would be compelled to work at that brothel.

Justice committee  I agree. As was mentioned, and has been mentioned before, we haven't seen the uptake on the criminalization of the men previously. We're hoping this will send a key message to Canadians that this is no longer tolerable, that we want more, and that women are not disposable. Women are worth more, and they can, if they so choose, exercise their right to criminalize the men exercising violence against them.

Justice committee  I would just add to that. NWAC has recently completed a research report on aboriginal women and sex trafficking, and we're waiting for the Canadian Women's Foundation to release their report so that we can release ours, because it was a sub report. We are very proud. We worked for over a year and a half, and NWAC has worked for at least a decade with our members, our constituents across Canada, throughout communities where we have dealt with aboriginal women who are in prostitution, who have been in prostitution, who were sex trafficked as children and then deemed to be prostituted because they came of age after being sex-exploited and trafficked for eight years.

Justice committee  I would definitely like to see more respect paid to the Gladue principles. Obviously, the last thing we would want to see are aboriginal women, or any of the most marginalized women, impacted by criminalization. I think we've been very clear about that. That is one area we need to see change happen, and we will continue to advocate for that change.

Justice committee  I wouldn't say there's particular attention. If you search the act, you're not even seeing the word “aboriginal”. So yes, that is obviously a concern for us. As Michèle said, it's not a perfect bill, but we have to start with something. We can't risk the advances that we could make in criminalizing pimps, johns, and traffickers in this legislation.

Justice committee  We would encourage the implementation of the UN declaration in its entirety, which also asks for women's right to live free from violence and to have economic security. You can't just hive off the duty to consult alone. Of course that's always necessary when you have any legislation that affects aboriginal peoples in such a way, but as we mentioned and as we framed our entire argument, we would like to see the UN declaration and all its articles implemented.

Justice committee  Well, in a sense, there's no reference to it, if that's what you mean. There's no specific reference to it, no.

Justice committee  Just to add to what Michèle said, we want to see a holistic approach to this. We want to see economic development. All of the aboriginal economic development that this government is making into the aboriginal community is largely benefiting men. We want the social supports in place for women to access training and skill building and have true options for livable income rather than prostitution.

Justice committee  I'll take over from here. Why are aboriginal women at risk? Violence can take on many forms—physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, spiritual, cultural, and financial—and it often results in vulnerability and self-harm: depression, a cycle of violence, alcohol and drug addiction, abuse, and suicide.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I respectfully submit that the fact that people aren't aware of how difficult it is for many aboriginal people to obtain an ID and that it is said so simplistically, not a matter of education, not a matter of poverty.... It's not a matter of options, it's a difficult task—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In her one instance she was not aware but—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was just saying, it shows the amount of privilege that's in this room that people have no comprehension of how difficult it could be for aboriginal people to obtain identification.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Exactly, I mean you've said it all right. If Elections Canada has not demonstrated that there is an actual problem or issue with the information contained on that, then why are we fixing something that's not broken, right?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This will only further put up barriers for aboriginal people and it can't help but make someone wonder, is that the intent? Is this really democracy or is the intent to actually limit aboriginal voting in the next election? Ask that question.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  So there wasn't consultation, I would never use that word. There was slight engagement.