Foreign Affairs Committee on March 21st, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Go ahead, Madame Larouche.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Vasylenko, I attended the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the UIP, last week in Bahrain. Your delegation from Ukraine tabled a motion requesting an emergency debate on the situation of women in various conflict zones, namely in Ukraine.

Could you tell us more about the motion requesting an emergency debate?

What do you expect of parliamentarians, specifically those from Canada, after the emergency debate at the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union last week?

[Lesia Vasylenko]

Thank you, Ms. Larouche. It was a pleasure to see you again at the UIP Assembly last week. I'm grateful for your ongoing efforts and those of Canada's delegation to support Ukraine, especially when it comes to supporting motions for holding emergency debates.

The goal of the motion, which passed, was to hold an emergency debate on humanitarian crises throughout the entire world. It included the humanitarian crisis caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine, which caused a great deal of suffering, especially for women and children.

Today, the central issue which must be solved as quickly as possible is the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children into Russian territory. That's another aspect of the genocide Russia is committing against Ukraine. There has to be a united international effort to stop this type of atrocious crime. We all have to work together so that Ukrainian children return to Ukraine as quickly as possible. As for how to proceed, it would require a much longer debate. The subject merits much broader discussion, because the problem doesn't have an immediate solution. The Russians don't want representatives from other countries or even major humanitarian organizations on their territory, so we don't even know what kind of conditions these Ukrainian children are finding themselves in.

What we do know is that the Russian government has programs, supported by Maria Lvova‑Belova, to have Ukrainian children adopted as quickly as possible into Russian families and eradicate their Ukrainian roots: their language, their culture, their traditions; in short, everything Ukrainian about them. That tactic has been used before, mostly by the Nazi regime in Germany, during World War II. It's happening again in 21st century Europe, right in the middle of the civilized world. This is not normal by any means. We must further unify our efforts and hold more discussions at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, but also within international communities and with international humanitarian organizations to determine what we can actually do to stop these crimes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

You were talking about the orphanages. I just wanted to greet you; it was a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Vasylenko.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I'm sorry. You're out of time.

We now go to Ms. McPherson for the last three minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for your testimony. This is, of course, very hard to hear. I have to say that I think Ukrainian women are heroes, not just for what they are doing but for how they are leading in their country. Thank you for being one of those heroes.

What I'm interested in knowing is how we can help Ukraine in the long term as well. We've talked about some of the things that need to be done in the short term. We've talked about how we need to support women. I was in Irpin just two weeks ago, and I saw exactly how the Russian army had targeted the civilian infrastructure and had clearly targeted civilians.

How can Canada help Ukraine? How can Canada help Ukrainian women in the long term recover from this and thrive going forward?

[Lesia Vasylenko]

Thank you, Ms. McPherson, for the question.

I think what you saw in Irpin is just the tip of the iceberg of what is yet to be seen after Mariupol is liberated, Melitopol is liberated, and Donetsk and Luhansk, which have been under occupation for nine years going on 10, are liberated.

There is a lot of work to be done to rebuild, reconstruct and recover. I think what Canada can do is continue to be the leader in finding recovery mechanisms for Ukraine. Today, I personally use the example of Canada when I prompt other governments to pass legislation on the ability to use Russia's confiscated assets for recovery projects in Ukraine. I urge Canadian parliamentarians and governments alike to speak to countries, especially the U.S., the U.K. and Switzerland, the ones where Russian assets are located at the moment, because that money is real money that can be used already to help Ukraine rebuild and recover.

How do we rebuild and recover? Women play principal roles here. The small and medium-sized businesses that keep communities going and give jobs to the simple people on the ground are largely run by women in Ukraine.

The other point I would like to reiterate is that you have to understand that this escalation over the last year has caused a massive migration of people. We have eight million internally displaced and seven million externally displaced Ukrainians. The majority of them, again, are women and children, especially those Ukrainians who go abroad. Helping them reconnect with Ukraine and giving them opportunities to come back to Ukraine to restart their businesses and get into employment lines will do wonders for the recovery of Ukraine's economy and also for the demographic recovery of Ukraine society.

Thank you.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much.

At this time, allow me to thank Ms. Woroniuk and Ms. Vasylenko.

In particular, Ms. Vasylenko, I'm terribly sorry for the technical problems. Let me also say that I know I speak on behalf of all members when I say that you are a hero. The women of Ukraine are truly inspirational, as Ms. McPherson said. Thank you very much for having provided this testimony. As you indicated, it is difficult testimony, so we are immeasurably grateful for your contribution to this.

Thank you.

[Lesia Vasylenko]

Thank you, Mr. Ehsassi.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

We will suspend for a few minutes to allow us to get the other witnesses connected.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Welcome back, everyone.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, June 20, 2022, the committee resumes its study of the sexual and reproductive health and the rights of women globally.

As the clerk and IT ambassador have completed the required connection tests in advance of the meeting and informed the witnesses appearing by video conference about the technical aspects of hybrid meetings, it is now my great pleasure to welcome our witnesses.

We have Dr. Asogwa as an individual. He is joining us virtually. From the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health, we have Ms. Julia Anderson, chief executive officer. From Planned Parenthood Toronto, we have Ms. Mohini Datta-Ray, executive director.

Initially, each of you will be provided five minutes for your opening remarks, after which we will proceed to questions from the members.

Dr. Asogwa, you will have the first five minutes. When you have about 20 seconds remaining, I will give you a sign. I would be grateful if you could wrap it up in the allotted time.

Dr. Asogwa, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Dr. Nkechi Asogwa, As an Individual]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, everybody.

It is an honour and privilege for me to address you on the sexual and reproductive health of women globally.

Speaking about sexual and reproductive health, I would like to share the World Health Organization's definition of “health”. It is defined as a state of “complete physical, mental and social” health and “not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” When this applies to the reproductive system, it includes processes and functions. I would like to say that the provision of abortion does not augur well for the physical, mental and social health of women.

Why would I say that?

A study in 2003 by the United Nations indicated that 71% of sub-Saharan people live in poverty. Women are hit the most. There is a multi-dimensional approach to the poverty experienced by women, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, that affects their health, their education and their life expectancy.

I would like to paint a brief profile of such a woman. My protagonist is called Jane. She is 23 years old. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria. She is married with two children and is expecting her third child. She and her husband are looking forward to having that child. They live in a room with other [Inaudible—Editor] in an overcrowded area in Lagos. They have no indoor plumbing. They have no kitchen. They share common resources, like toilets and a bathroom. Open defecation is rife. Flies and mosquitos abound. Jane is a food seller. She and her husband earn less than $30 U.S. a month. Also, because of the security situation in Nigeria, Jane will have to pay a levy to the local thugs in her area for protection. These local thugs can turn aggressors, given the right amount of money.

Objectively, what are the health needs of Jane?

She needs antenatal care. She needs nutrition. She needs adequate care during pregnancy and childbirth. What she will probably be able to afford is a birth attendant who is not equipped to take care of complications during pregnancy or during childbirth.

Objectively, what does Jane need?

She needs shelter. She needs nutrition. She needs potable water. She needs accessible and affordable health care. She needs education. She needs economic empowerment.

Who speaks for the Janes of this world? Who listens to these poor women who need and want to have children, but are living in abject poverty?

On one hand, Jane is battered by the situation of her country. On the other hand, she is battered by foreign donors that present abortion as the only option.

A former foreign minister of Nigeria says that foreign funding for non-profit organizations is “a tool of subversion of the global south by the global north.” I believe that applies when sexual and reproductive health are offered and abortion is the primary line of help offered to these poor women.

In Africa, we love children. African couples love children. Pregnancy is seen as a blessing. Abortion for us is a taboo. When Jane is being offered abortion and is forced to take abortion as a solution, nobody takes into account her cultural belief or her religious belief. Jane is not given the opportunity to speak for herself and to look for support that will fall in line with her beliefs.

Mr. Chair, I would like to say that I applaud the Government of Canada for this study. Last year, the Canadian government gave a huge donation toward dealing with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. That is a step in the right direction.

I think I will conclude with this: The Janes of this world would be happier if they were supported and if they were empowered to seek solutions that are in line with their religious and cultural beliefs, and not forced without any solution to fall into whatever the funders think they need.

Thank you so much for listening.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much for that.

Now, since Ms. Datta-Ray is virtual as well, we might as well proceed with Ms. Datta-Ray.

The floor is yours for five minutes.

[Mohini Datta-Ray, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Toronto]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm honoured to be invited here today. I represent, as you've heard, Planned Parenthood Toronto, a community health centre that since the 1960s has been advancing reproductive justice and sexual and reproductive health for young people through primary care, mental health care, community programs, research and advocacy.

Why should what we are seeing on the ground at PPT matter to this committee? It's because the disturbing trends that we are experiencing—particularly along the fault lines of gender, bodily autonomy and safety for women, girls and trans people—are tied, sometimes quite directly, to Canada's presence and field of influence abroad. Along with climate disaster, which also impacts women, girls and trans people disproportionately, it is also no exaggeration that the terrifying global backsliding around gender is the most urgent issue of this generation, as it is a tool to mainstream authoritarianism across the world.

Canada, of course, is not immune to such global trends. They are global. At last count, the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada identified that well-funded anti-abortion activists are in every level of our own governments, including over 80 at the federal level, showing that here in Canada, anti-choice organizing is taking its lessons well.

There is so much that could be said, and there are so many linkages to be made. However, I want to take this opportunity to focus on two illustrative areas: the profound impact of predatory Canadian so-called colleges on young women and girls in rural India and the ongoing violence against women and girls as a result of Canadian resource extraction projects.

Reproductive justice, defined by Black and indigenous feminists through the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, is the “right to have children”, “to not have children” and to raise those children “in safe and sustainable communities.” Crucially, it pushes the somewhat narrow reproductive rights argument further to a social justice approach. Every woman, girl and trans person should have the right to have children, to not have children and to raise those children in safe and sustainable communities.

As climate disaster and hard-right governments grow in power globally, we see the dire impacts locally. Every year, PPT is funded provincially with $74,000 to support non-insured clients—to access abortion, mostly—most of whom have precarious status or are students with inadequate health insurance. Increasingly, who we see are students from predatory colleges that are actively and intentionally luring foreign students to Canada and then abandoning them once they get here. No actual education materializes, and there's no way to get home. Their families' entire savings and often exorbitant loans have been spent to somehow get here. Our non-insured budget for abortion care has ballooned from $74,000 to $500,000 in one year.

Those coming to us are part of a new phenomenon: rural farming communities in India are sending not their sons but their daughters for education, hoping for a better life in the context of escalating climate change, globalization and deep indebtedness, with no relief from a hostile Indian government. Many of these young women find themselves highly exploited, sexually assaulted by landlords, trafficked locally or subjected to coercive relationships with no resources. As providers and advocates, we're scrambling to respond.

I have watched the important witness statements at this committee petitioning Canada to stay accountable and fulfill its crucial, stable, feminist gender-funding commitments globally. I want to underscore this. Now more than ever, this is a matter of life and death. It is crucial that Canada work with local feminist organizers, both on the ground, as it were, and also online, where well-funded misogynist and authoritarian organizing is increasingly happening. I also want, with great urgency, to add a layer born of personal experience.

My late father was a Canadian mining and resource extraction executive. Specifically, he had a key role in negotiating contracts between Canadian mining companies and countries like India, Mexico, China, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Madagascar. Often our whole family would go along with him, giving me an exciting childhood of travelling around the world, riding giant coal dump trucks, hearing casual conversations over imported Pizza Pockets about how entire villages were being displaced forever in order to allow for the Canadian-led mining operations. I've been propositioned aggressively, as young as 12 years old, by grown Canadian men who were perhaps used to displaced and trafficked local children to whom I bore a close resemblance. We fled the onset of civil war back into the safety of Canada, leaving friends, classmates and neighbours behind to face the horror.

Canada is both a great hope globally and, frustratingly, one of the biggest perpetrators of extractive practices that contribute to climate disaster, result in profound loss of human rights and land, and result in the sharp increase in abuse, sexual violence, trafficking, degradation and state terror of women, girls and trans people. In addition to our feminist and strategic SRHR funding commitments, there must also be an honest reckoning with Canada's economic practices around the world, a reckoning that has both the will and the teeth.

As the executive director of Planned Parenthood Toronto, someone who grew up around Canadian mining projects, an immigrant and a feminist, I urge that this reckoning come as soon as humanly possible. For women, girls and trans people, our very survival depends on it. Our planet's survival depends on it.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Ms. Anderson from the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health.

You have five minutes.

[Julia Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health]

Thanks so much.

Thank you for having me today, and for the topic of this critical and important study.

I represent a partnership of over 100 organizations, private sector entities, research institutions and civil society organizations based in Canada. They work here and around the world to promote women and children's health and rights.

I carry many stories of the importance of this particular issue. They include my personal story of becoming a mother a few years shy of my 20th birthday, the stories of my daughters, the stories of my nieces and the stories of the many women I've met while travelling across this country and around the globe. One consistent theme comes out. I think it's been touched on by both of our speakers.

That theme is choice—choice about when, with whom and whether to have children, and how many. This is not just a choice about today. It is an intergenerational choice about the future for yourself and your ability to attain education, a livelihood, employment and economic security for yourself and your family. It's a choice about how you want to build your community. These are choices women are making across all areas of this globe, and they are absolutely critical. In fact, they touch on every aspect of international development.

In 2019, over 218 million women and girls of reproductive age were unable to properly access SRHR in low- and middle-income countries. That situation has only grown and worsened since the pandemic. Not only has progress been reversed in some places; it has slipped behind. Adolescent advocates, women and girls in the communities we're talking about are telling us one thing: They're reinforcing the idea that their needs are being deprioritized in the context of the pandemic and sidelined as non-essential. For any woman of reproductive age who is sexually active, the idea of sidelining access to contraception is a joke, and it is a problem.

What does this mean? Our projections tell us that a 12% average decline in access to modern contraception would result in an additional 734,000 unintended pregnancies. A 25% average decline in essential pregnancy-related care would result in an additional 134,000 obstetric complications and 3,400 maternal deaths. Already, in the space of these testimonies, one woman has died every two minutes globally as a result of childbirth or pregnancy.

Let me underscore that these are perfectly preventable deaths. They are happening in places that don't have money, not in places where there is access to health care. There is no innovation needed here, but simply a scale-up in doing more of what we know we need to do.

A 23% shift from safe to unsafe abortions will lead to an additional 491,000 unsafe abortions. There are real people behind these numbers. Investment, coupled with cohesive policy that ensures SRHR is not a siloed or sidelined issue, is critical. We need to invest in intentional, innovative actions that are multisectoral and that integrate social determinants of health that are central to achieving equitable access to health services for women, adolescent girls and children—and to their futures.

What this means for Canada is that we cannot mask, divert or subvert the funds we have clearly allocated to SRHR. We must meet our commitments for consistent, stable and predictable increases to this funding, which means successfully scaling up to the direct investment of $700 million in SRHR by the end of this year.

However, investment alone is not enough. The erosion of rights of women, girls, children and communities means we need a multi-faceted approach to ensure rights are not further sidelined. We have to get organized in our diplomacy and foreign policy, and line up with a cohesive strategy around SRHR.

The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health has three recommendations in this regard.

The first is that Canada scale up its spending, as it has committed to doing. This means counting and tracking what we are spending and that you, as parliamentarians, hold Global Affairs Canada and us, the actors in civil society, accountable.

The second is that Canada embrace and act on its SRHR leadership role globally, much as it did for the Muskoka initiative, and push other donors to prioritize women and children's health as a key issue—not a sidelined issue or one to be disregarded when conflict and crisis emerge.

The final one is that Canada continue to invest in a comprehensive health agenda that prioritizes the health rights of women and children and seeks to regain the progress lost over the pandemic. This must and should be our priority for our government, now and into the future.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you, Ms. Anderson.

We now go to the members.

For the first round, everyone will be provided four minutes. Mr. Genuis, we'll start with you.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I want to pick up on Ms. Anderson's comments about the Muskoka initiative and the success that was achieved there. I'll start with Dr. Asogwa.

The previous Canadian government launched the Muskoka initiative to mobilize countries around the world in support for maternal and child health and nutrition. It did not include funding for abortion and instead focused on providing help for access to vitamins, vaccines and those sorts of things.

I wonder if you have some awareness of the Muskoka initiative or thoughts on it or on the scope it covered.

You can go ahead, please.

[Dr. Nkechi Asogwa]

I'm sorry. Is that for me?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Yes, it is. Go ahead.

[Dr. Nkechi Asogwa]

No, I'm sorry. I'm not aware of the Muskoka initiative.

What I do know is that we have a lot of foreign donors working in Nigeria, and there's a big push for making abortion legal in the country. The maternal and infant death rate is on the increase, and approximately 16 million Nigerian children are out of school. About 10 million Nigerian children die as infants due to malnutrition.

I'm not aware of that initiative. Thank you.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Aside from the named initiative, then, you're essentially saying that there are specific problems around infant mortality and malnutrition and those are the areas of focus.

Maybe you could share a bit more and we can identify for ourselves the areas of alignment or non-alignment between programs here. What are those areas of focus for Canadian funding around maternal and child health that we should be really drilling down on?

[Dr. Nkechi Asogwa]

I think one of the key areas that we'd really be interested in is nutrition. If 60% of childhood diseases and death are attributed to malnutrition, that should be something of concern to us.

As I said, about 66% of our population live in multidimensional poverty—

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I raise a point of order, Mr. Chair.