Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to commend my colleague, Mr. Kakfwi, for bringing this forward for discussion and for inviting the witnesses to talk to us about violence. One thing I would like to stress is that the title says family violence. When we talk about a family, we are not looking at a target group. Violence against women predominates. Since we have opened safe shelters we have been able to collect data on violence against women. But, I wish I could say the same for men because there are men who are abused. The only time we can do something about children is when they begin to start to show signs that they are neglected or abused. That is when Social Services intervenes.

Because we don't have any stats for violence against men, we really have nothing on record. Men also don't talk. I can understand where Members are coming from when they say that we are just targeting men. But this is a family issue, it is not just a women's issue. It involves the family. Like Mr. Kakfwi said, for the most part, we are talking about violence that takes place in the home and cases where victims and abusers not only know each other, but are in an intimate family relationship. I would endorse and give my full support to Mr. Kakfwi in this context when the motion is put forward. Thank you.