Thank you very much.
Ms. Mathyssen.
Evidence of meeting #2 for Status of Women in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was move.
Evidence of meeting #2 for Status of Women in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was move.
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I think all these issues are in fact very, very significant.
I do have a question, though, in regard to the motion from Ms. Smith. While it's very important to study, I wonder what purpose, what goal, there is in terms of addressing the real deficit in regard to both senior women and aboriginal women. I like Ms. Minna's objective to actually look at changes in terms of the structures that are impacting negatively on women.
I'd also like to make mention of the motions that I put forward. I think it is very, very important that we do indeed look back on the work of the previous committee, specifically report number five. There never was a government response. We've heard about concerns in regard to women who are entrepreneurs. Report number five dealt specifically with some of those challenges in regard to maternity and parental benefits and the fact that many of the people who are excluded from those benefits are self-employed and entrepreneurial women. So those things are important.
Thirdly, the last motion is a request that the minister for the status of women come to the committee, because I would very much like to hear about the status of pay equity legislation and I'd also like an explanation of the estimates. I would like to know why money was allocated and reallocated and the rationale behind that.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
It's apparent we've got a full and ambitious agenda with all the suggestions being put forward. It strikes me as I'm listening to it that a number of different ideas can be integrated under one broad umbrella.
Ms. Guergis talks about income splitting, and to my mind it is very much part of income security--a piece of it for women. I think that's something that's important to move forward on.
I would like to make a number of points.
I concur with you, and I think it's important that we resubmit to the government all the reports that were tabled by the committee last year. They were all unanimous reports of the committee, and they all came about after consultation with women's groups from all over the country. That is work that has been done already; we don't need to reinvent, and we can ask for a government response.
The matter of matrimonial property rights has come up, and I think many members of the committee are aware the aboriginal affairs committee did an extensive study on it last year and had a response from the government. I am a member of that committee. I have given notice of motion to that committee that we resubmit that report and ask for a response from the government on it. To study it in this committee is to basically redo what another committee has done. Given that our agenda is so full, I don't see the purpose of it when the work is being done and there is a lot of material on it.
Last year the election was called, but we were attempting to have a joint committee with the aboriginal affairs committee to discuss the issue of matrimonial property rights. It's a far-reaching one, and we just had a presentation yesterday in the aboriginal affairs c ommittee. When we looked at the whole issue of Bill C-31 and the implications for the demographics of aboriginal communities, matrimonial property rights is an issue that I think should be dealt with in conjunction with Bill C-31. I would urge this committee to try to do it jointly with the aboriginal affairs committee rather than reinventing it. It's a priority for everybody, and that would give it significant impact and weight.
The other comment I would like to make, Madam Chair, is that we did extensive consultations last year with community groups. Probably 50 or 60 community groups across the country appeared before this committee. We asked to hear from the communities what their priorities are. I think as we make our decisions we should keep those in mind. I'm sure all members of the committee have had an opportunity to do it, but pay equity was certainly a priority; income security or poverty against women—however you want to describe it—was certainly a priority; poverty for senior women, aboriginal women; violence against women; trafficking--we've made some moves on trafficking, but there's more to do. We heard that very much from the community groups.
Our agenda is full, and I would suggest that, after everybody has an opportunity to talk, we try in a collaborative way to prioritize by a show of hands, informally, what we would like to move forward on.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Specific to the ideas on the work plan, are there any other suggestions of things we want to look at?
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
Joy Smith Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
I'll wait until we've exhausted the list and then we'll comment.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
9:55 a.m.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
I want to give my support to Ms. Neville's suggestion on having a joint committee meeting with the aboriginal affairs committee. I also think that perhaps Ms. Mourani, when you're talking about the criminal issues, women in jail and things like that, perhaps we could have a joint committee meeting with the justice committee, so that we're not repeating the work that's already done.
Our time is very valuable and, as Ms. Neville said, we do have a very ambitious agenda. Any time we can partner with other committees to move a little faster, I think that would make good sense.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Actually, I think this is going very well, because I think we're coming around to the same stuff. After all, we're women, so we're coming around to the same issues.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Well, sorry, I apologize.
Are you the one I have to apologize to? Okay, sorry, Irwin.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Women are supporters of the sensibility. Okay.
What I seem to pick up some consensus on is the resubmitting of the reports. Because obviously there was consensus from the previous committee—and that's great—we could get that off the table, so we could get a report back.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
Maria Minna Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I'm just noticing some of my thinking, and then we can get to that in a minute. But I think Madam Mourani was going to do that.
So resubmit those. Obviously there is agreement on the matrimonial rights. I agree with Anita and others that we should work in conjunction with the aboriginal committee as well, so that we're not overlapping and redoing studies that have already been done. So that seems to be a bit of a consensus here.
With respect to women, poverty for seniors, income splitting, and what I suggested with income security and seniors—it's the same thing—we're talking about income security for seniors and women. As I said, I think that could be rolled into income security and seniors poverty today, and that needs to be addressed.
Then there's violence against women. Again, I think that what we could do.... There is violence against women, which would include justice, group justice issues, the impact of the current justice legislation, and other things that need to be done, and trafficking.... It tends to come into how women are affected and violence. It doesn't have to be just one type of violence; it's a broad term. So those things can be collapsed into a study as well.
That gives us a big chunk of work, but there are three major areas, which are all very important. Then we are able to do a comprehensive, inclusive kind of study, as opposed to piecemeal bits for women.
If there's consensus, my suggestion would be to collapse those issues into those three main areas—and I think there's plenty of work we can do.
10 a.m.
NDP
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'm really glad to see that we're reaching a positive consensus, because these are issues of profound concern.
I would like to add something into the mix. I realize that we've taken on a great deal of work, but in light of the reality of our current Parliament, the fact that there are so few women represented in the House of Commons makes electoral reform an important piece in this puzzle. We've been talking a great deal about accountability, and I think it's time that we looked at the kinds of changes that would make Parliament truly representative and truly accountable. So I would like to add electoral reform.
There are all kinds of models that are available. A great deal of work has already been done, and I think it's important to move that work forward with this committee, keeping in mind that better representation in our Parliament will indeed address, or help to address, the issues that concern us in the committee.
Thank you.
10 a.m.
Bloc
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
It's important for us to have these reports, to get an idea of the government's position. We need to know what the previous government has done over the past year, so that we don't cover the same ground again.
