Status of Women Committee on Feb. 12th, 2009

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Good morning, colleagues. I want you to bear with me this morning. As you can see, my allergies are really giving me trouble. If I sound deep-throated, it's not because I'm trying to sound sexy; it's the only pitch I can speak at.

Good morning to Minister Guergis and Ms. Clare Beckton, coordinator. Welcome to the committee.

I know the minister has a presentation. That is meant to be about ten minutes, please. Then we will open it up to the members to interact with the minister.

Thank you, Minister.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Minister of State (Status of Women)]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Let me first say that your voice is really working for you this morning. That's good.

I'd like to take this opportunity to give my congratulations on your recent election. I'd also like to congratulate all the members of Parliament on their recent appointments to the status of women committee. I want to commend you for the important work you have done on women's issues in the past and for the important work you are about to do.

It is a pleasure to be with you today.

As a founding member of the standing committee, I am in the unique position of having first served as an opposition member, then as a member of the government, and now as the Minister of State for Status of Women. Given the strong role I believe this committee can play in Parliament, I am particularly enjoying my new vantage point.

I am very pleased to be here today, to outline the Government of Canada's commitment to women's full participation in Canadian society, Status of Women Canada's recent accomplishments, and our future actions.

In October 2008 I was honoured to be appointed Minister of State (Status of Women). My distinguished predecessors all had multiple portfolios, and I have the distinction of being the first minister with sole responsibility for Status of Women Canada.

I welcome this opportunity to describe Status of Women Canada's accomplishments under this government--a government that has brought in the highest level of funding for Status of Women Canada in almost two decades. I belive this has happened because of the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the high priority placed on the plight of women.

I will outline our plans to further advance equality for women, address violence against women, promote women in leadership, and advance their economic security. We are undertaking these actions in order to bring about their full and equal participation in all aspects of Canadian life.

Our government is committed to promoting equality for women.

It is undeniable that the currently most pressing issue on the minds of Canadian women today is the economy, particularly because in times like these, lower-income Canadians are the most impacted and women are disproportionately represented in this category.

It is important that those of us whom the public have entrusted with managing their welfare act immediately and effectively to bring relief to all Canadians. This is why our government brought forth in Budget 2009 a multi-year action plan to stimulate economic growth, restore confidence, and support all Canadians—women and their families.

Immediately upon my appointment, I embarked upon a listening exercise to meet Canadians, especially Canadian women, to hear their concerns and seek their input and solutions to address the challenges that women are facing across the country. Since October, I have met with and spoken to Canadian women from coast to coast to coast: women with disabilities, senior women, aboriginal and immigrant women, single parents with dependent children, representatives of women's groups, businesswomen, and elected women from provincial, territorial, and municipal governments.

In my meetings with women in women's organizations, they expressed the need for tax cuts to inspire spending and asked for funding for roads, for bridges, for recreational centres to help spur economic growth, but they wanted to see actions that would help the vulnerable. They also expressed concerns that there be no cuts to women's programs such as they had faced in the 1990s.

I am proud to say that women believe our government has met their request.

Instead of reducing funding, as had been done in the past, we added an additional $10 million in ongoing funding to the budget of women's programs, bringing the total for Status of Women Canada's budget to $30 million annually. It is as a result of such funding levels that we are now in a position to extend assistance to more women's groups in communities than ever before.

Budget 2009 addresses all of these concerns by: making changes to EI, including a plan to extend maternal and parental benefits to self-employed Canadians, 47% of whom are women; there are measures to raise the child tax benefits; there is more funding for social housing; there are resources for northern communities, for aboriginal Canadians, including aboriginal women; and there are more resources for health care for women, including an additional $554 million through targeted support for the implementation of wait time guarantees and the HPV immunization programs to protect against cervical cancer.

As mothers and caregivers, aboriginal women will benefit from the additional $325 million to continue practical partnership approaches with aboriginal organizations and provincial and territorial governments on delivery of first nations and Inuit health programs and child and family services.

On issue after issue, our government has responded to the needs of women by developing supportive policies and measures to address critical challenges and by providing the resources to assist in dealing with them.

Our government will continue to create the conditions for women to succeed by encouraging women in leadership, promoting women's economic security and prosperity, and addressing the crucial issue of violence against women.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, I was pleased to sign in November Canada's commitment in support of the United Nations Development Fund campaign “Say No to Violence against Women”, an effort to expand awareness and political commitment worldwide to end violence.

I was also pleased to support the YWCA Red Rose campaign to end violence against women, a campaign that I know enjoys the support of all parties in Parliament. Women's organizations such as the YWCA, Women Building Futures, Equal Voice, Home Horizon, etc., are of immense importance in delivering services to women in communities all across Canada. That is why, over the last few weeks, my focus and my attention have been on the awarding of grants under a call for proposals from the Women's Community Fund and on the creation of new partnerships under the Women's Partnership Fund.

I have had the pleasure of personally announcing support for projects by women's groups in Toronto, Moncton, and Ottawa, meeting representatives of the organizations doing the work and some of the women who are benefiting from the initiatives.

I am pleased to report that I have approved a total of 71 projects valued at more than $11 million over three years under the Women's Community Fund.

I am confident that these initiatives will advance equality for women and their full participation in the economic, social, and democratic life of Canada. These projects will yield concrete results for Canadian women and girls, including helping them to find jobs and secure their economic security and prosperity, increasing financial literacy skills, supporting them in leaving the sex trade and leaving situations involving violence and abuse, building confidence in young girls to take on leadership roles, and expanding opportunities for employment in the construction sector as infrastructure investments move forward through our Women Building Futures initiative.

Through the Women's Partnership Fund we have been successful in creating partnerships and leveraging financial and in-kind contributions with partners across society that will support women's leadership in the advanced science and technology sectors; will open doors to corporate markets for women ready to seize new business opportunity and employment opportunities through education, training, coaching and mentoring programs; and will support young girls' leadership development and their engagement in civic and political life.

Our government recognizes that women's contributions to the economy are substantial and they are growing rapidly. Women now make up approximately half of the employed workforce in Canada. They establish businesses at twice the rate of men. They excel in previously male-dominated careers and courses of study. They wield significant power in the economies of Canada and in the world.

In the coming months Status of Women Canada will implement a number of priorities involving strategic policy analysis, planning, and development among other initiatives, developing our action plan, and strengthening gender-based analysis.

Since 2006 our government has worked hard to address the challenges facing the full diversity of Canadian women to promote the conditions for their success. Our reforms have allowed more women's groups to access government assistance and in the process reach over 100,000 more women directly.

As a country we have a foundation upon which we can build a stronger and more prosperous future for all Canadians, women and men alike, and we know that more women will prosper. The more that they do the more Canada will prosper.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Minister. You've got four minutes left. Excellent.

Now I would like to open up the discussion, beginning with Madam Neville.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Do I get the extra four minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

No.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Minister, for appearing here today and thank you for agreeing to meet with me prior to this, as well as Ms. Beckton. I appreciated the opportunities to meet with both of you before this.

I only have seven minutes, and I probably have seventy minutes' worth of questions, so I'm going to try to ask some questions. You raised a number of interesting comments in your remarks.

My first question we raised it earlier with Ms. Beckton. I'm interested in knowing what kind of gender-based analysis was done of the budget, and if one was done, whether we could have it. That would be my first question.

My second question relates to the criteria of the various funds. When we met with Ms. Beckton, I think it was on the community fund particularly that she indicated that the criteria for each proposal call have changed, nuanced somewhat. I don't know whether it's the minister's directive, whether it's advice from whom, but I'm interested in knowing what the changes are. I had asked for them; I haven't received them yet. How have the different criteria for each proposal call changed?

In your comments you talked about leadership. You talked about jobs, economic security. You talked about violence against women. One of the questions I asked Ms. Beckton when we met was whether we could have a list of those projects that were denied funding, and I was told there are privacy law concerns about that.

I am interested in getting a list of those that were granted funding, but I have received a number of representations from people who have been denied funding. I want to ask specifically about two at the moment, and I suspect my colleagues may have others.

My first one is particularly related to the Assembly of First Nations. They have put in a number of requests for funding, one under the community and partnership fund, one for the Aboriginal Women's Summit. It was submitted in December 2007. Another one is called “Restoring Balance”, and I have the brief description on the culturally relevant, gender-based analysis, capacity-building, which certainly ties in with your comments.

Another one is entitled “Women's Wisdom and Well-Being in a First Nations Context: Walking the Way of our Ancestors”, which also speaks to leadership issues, and another one that was recently submitted is “Women's Wisdom and Well-Being in a First Nations Context”, which also speaks to both leadership and health, none of which have received a response.

I'm trying to be quick so I can get a response from you.

The one that's giving me the greatest concern is CAIFT. On December 2 they submitted a proposal to improve the representation of women in predominantly male sectors of employment in Quebec and to optimize the potential of the female workforce in a sustainable manner to help women achieve better economic security.

I'm advised that the negotiations were going on very well. They had every expectation that they would have a partner, in that they met the program requirements in every regard--economic prosperity, women's leadership. When they put out a press release criticizing the pay equity initiative brought in in the economic stimulus, they abruptly had a response indicating that their project would not be dealt with as initially expected and that there was no more money.

I'm advised that both the organization and the officer in charge, who has now left the organization, were in shock.

It's a lot of questions, and there's not a lot of time, but I'd appreciate whatever answers you could give me in the time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Madam Neville, you have three more minutes, if you wish.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

The minister has a few minutes.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

To address the first question on gender-based analysis, I know that this question has been talked about a great deal around this table, and I do first want to recognize the great work of the committee. I was a part of one of those reports. I do happen to know that it has been told to this committee before that since 2006 the Department of Finance has been conducting gender-based analysis on tax measures, where data permit.

I don't think it's any coincidence that it started since our government formed in 2006, if I can point that out. I would strongly encourage you to have a greater conversation with the Ministry of Finance with respect to the details on what the gender-based--

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

What is the role of your department, though?

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Ours is to work with other departments on going through the gender-based analysis process. But to think that Status of Women Canada would have all of the gender-based analysis for every ministry going on and be the ones to answer for each specific ministry, line by line, is not realistic.

We work with them, and we walk through the process, and we train them when training is required and requested of us.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Do you actually do an analysis—

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Status of Women Canada worked with finance department officials on the gender-based analysis for the tax measures. So if you need more specific details on that, you would have to speak to them.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

That was only on the tax measures.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

That's correct. I think it's also important to point out, though, that under our leadership, Treasury Board submissions are not accepted now unless there has been gender-based analysis. They are turned away. They're not accepted.

You could also speak to Treasury Board in more detail on their process where gender-based analysis is concerned.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

If I get another round, I'll come back to it.

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

With respect to your questions on criteria, I would say to you that with the announcement of an action plan for Status of Women Canada in 2008, in the budget process, we were very clear that we wanted to see three pillars. Since that time, the funding has been in line with those three pillars of economic security--women's security--and ending violence against women, and women in leadership roles.

The criteria haven't necessarily changed to that extent--I can explain the pillars a little bit more for you, if you want--but there's a question of what we're putting the emphasis on, what we are paying attention to.

Before I turn it over to Clare, I want to talk quickly about some of the applications that can be denied. We're not going to be able to fund every application that comes in to Status of Women Canada. I know that you're not expecting that we would. What I can tell you is that there has been a 69% increase in the number of organizations receiving funding from Status of Women Canada because of the positive changes that we have made, because of the increase in funding that we have provided to Status of Women Canada.

I don't see all of the applications that are denied. I take my officials' recommendations that they are in line with what they're supposed to be, and that they work with those people. They come up to me for my review and my approval. I go through that process line by line, discussing each one of them with them at that stage, once they've made it through their processes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'm sorry, the time is up.

Now we go to Madame Deschamps.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First, I would like to thank the minister and Ms. Beckton for being here today.

Madam Minister, thank you for having accepted our invitation and for responding to it so quickly. We are going to enjoy this little chat. I am more comfortable with social, community and people issues than with figures and accounting. As I listened to your presentation, I felt all the hope and the optimism in your words. Everyone is fine, everyone is nice, everything is going very well here in Canada. I would love to be able to have that same feeling, but I find it difficult. I would love for you to look me in the eye and explain that it is so, especially at the moment, when a serious crisis is affecting not only Canada but the entire world. Even before the crisis, in my opinion, women had always suffered more discrimination in the programs available to them. The fact is that more women than men will be affected by this crisis. Could you tell me how you see the current crisis? What leads you to say that there is equality between the sexes? That is your position; it is your wish. Personally, I do not see the day when what you are suggesting to us today is going to happen.

Please, make your best case and try to convince me. Women are affected, more and more so. Take a specific example: Employment Insurance. You may be providing unemployed men and women with five more weeks, but if they are not eligible to start with, they are no better off. We know that only 33% of women are eligible for the current program, as opposed to 44% of men. The five weeks may be meant as a present, but what good is it for women if they are not eligible? I find that the whole situation is difficult, but it is more difficult for women.

You travelled around meeting women's groups. Tell me specifically what their concerns were. What did they tell you?

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Thank you very much. I appreciate your question, and I appreciate your taking the time to meet with me last week and hope that we can do that on a regular basis.

I'm not going to sit here and try to suggest that we don't have a long way to go. Women have come a long way, but we have a long way to go, and I think the fact that the Prime Minister has put a minister solely dedicated to Status of Women Canada is a clear indication that we know that we still have more work to do, and that's the approach we're taking.

With respect to EI, I'm not the best person to answer that question for you, because I'm not the lead minister, and I think you understand that, but some of the changes they asked me for when I went through some of my consultations were that they wanted to see more opportunities for training. Minister Finley has answered many times in the House that there will be an increase in training, and not just for those who are on employment insurance. And I urge you, because you are masters of your own destiny around this table, to have Minister Finley come here to explain in more detail to you what are some of those changes and to explain to you where the training opportunities will be.

That being said, there are a number of groups and organizations we are funding that are taking women through these kinds of opportunities. I mentioned one of them, Building Futures, an incredible program. I toured the facility where they are training women in non-traditional roles, as heavy equipment operators, welders, etc. But some of the women who are coming into this program have come through some extremely difficult situations in their lives. On the premises, there are apartments and rooms for them. They live there while they go through their training, because if you want to take the training, often you can't afford to take it and pay for your home and where you need to live at the same time. We recognize that, so some of the programs we are funding are doing these kinds of things and addressing these issues on the ground with concrete action where women are concerned. This is one of the areas.

In Budget 2009, with respect to small-business women, about whom I spoke in great detail when commenting that 47% of small businesses are now run by women.... The business women said they wanted to have access to maternity benefits, and I think the commitment to have a panel and an in-depth conversation about that will be helpful. I urge the committee members to be a part of that process. I've heard this need not only in the last few months, but also going back to when I owned my own small business back in early 1990s.

I don't believe I've answered every one of your questions, but is there another comment that you have for me?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Your time is up.

[Johanne Deschamps, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

You are strict, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

For the next round, Madame.

Ms. Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Good morning, Madam Minister.

I am pleased that you took the time to come and see us today. It is a very important day for the committee. As your parliamentary secretary, I very much appreciate your open mind.

There were a lot of changes at Status of Women Canada last year. Since our government was elected, we have made changes to the women's support program so that more women can take advantage of it and have access to services and information.

Can you describe the changes that have been made, and especially, how they have affected women?

[Helena Guergis, Conservative, Simcoe—Grey, ON]

Let me do the best I can on that.

A lot of the changes you can read in the department report. I know it's been tabled, and if you haven't had an opportunity to have a look at it, I would encourage you to, because there is a lot of good news within that departmental review.

Of course, in Budget 2007 we did announce an additional $10 million a year for Status of Women Canada, so now we do have a higher level of funding.

I talked earlier about the increase in the number of organizations receiving money. It's allowed us to widen our reach across the country. It's an open and competitive funding program now, with a significant uptick in the number of organizations applying for funding. Of the 69% I noted in saying that we've seen an increase in the number of organizations, 41% of those are actually new first-time people coming in and receiving funding and opportunities. Some of the organizations have been quoted in the paper saying they had projects sitting on their desks for ten years and it was under the leadership of this government that they were finally given the resources to deliver them, implement them, and see some real action on the ground.

I hear that a lot, and I think that's very positive. Because we did a lot of research for a lot of years—a lot of studies telling us what we needed to do, what was wrong—our government has taken the very positive approach of giving the resources to some of these organizations who said “I know what to do; just give me the tools to be able to deliver this directly to women on the ground”. So we are seeing that.

For 2007 and 2008, there were 181 new projects funded. And we're seeing beyond just simply funding more projects. The performance report talked about the results these programs are getting. Clare could speak in more detail to some of those results and the measurements we use to see those results.

On the community fund and the partnership fund, the community fund is more of a granting side, where we've seen the funding substantially increase. But then we have the partnership fund, where we work with community organizations and find donations. And sometimes provincial levels of government are a part of that process, where we develop a partnership and it can go for two and three years to help an organization develop a program, but at the same time with the hopes that maybe it could be something that could be taken up by the province at a later date if it were viewed as somewhat of a pilot project.

And I'm happy to provide the committee with a list of organizations that have received funding. Perhaps the committee could sit at another time and we could walk you through some of the specific projects that have received funding: what they were attempting to do, what they have achieved, and the time they have been operating. I know that many of you around the table would probably be very interested to see some of those results.