Yes, I recognize that.
Evidence of meeting #64 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #64 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A video is available from Parliament.
12:30 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
—or make a policy decision of that nature.
But I would say that the current mandate is very flexible and very broad. It has allowed the minister, for example, to define her priorities as part of the RPP every year.
When you've covered violence, economic security, and leadership, you've covered the gamut of issues that can be addressed by Status of Women Canada.
12:30 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
But—and I'm not going to say “if”, because I believe we are all very serious about trying to remove barriers and things that stand in the way of women's advancement—even such organizations as the status of women committee, I think frankly, should have a 50-50 gender split. It would be a bit difficult in my case, since I'm the only one here; I'd have to give it up to a man.
If we were pushing to have more men sit on committees like this so that they understood more of the complexities and the challenges women are facing, it would be helpful in trying to meet the objectives that have been set out by the minister today. It would be quite helpful.
I'm putting this forward as a suggestion to you. I'm throwing out to the government and to the rest of us, that this would be another small step we could take as we move forward.
I'm not going to ask you to comment, because you're not in a position. But if you just take that as a little—
12:30 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
No, I wouldn't mind commenting on it.
12:30 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I think one of the things you may have noticed at Status of Women is that we have more men.
12:30 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
We do believe that gender equality is not a women's issue, it's a societal issue, and everybody is part of the solution.
Through our gender-based analysis work, we have done some amazing things in the last few years within the federal family. Last year we developed, in-house again, an online training course on GBA, which all policy research evaluators in government are asked to undertake. We've had close to 450 take it since its launch very recently.
We've now developed a gender-based analysis awareness week in the federal family. All departments join in for a whole week. We do activities and exchange knowledge with our colleagues. We're really reinforcing the consideration of gender equality issues in all aspects of departmental activity.
This committee certainly plays a key role, but I think that departments, and the committees that also oversee the work of the departments, need to be active in that area as well. I think more and more we are seeing more men involved in gender equality issues in the departments, as we are at Status of Women, and certainly more work is being done in that way.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
The budget is coming down. How much additional funding has the department requested for a variety of initiatives that you want to put forward?
March 19th, 2013 / 12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I would not be at liberty to say.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I'm not sure, to be—
12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
No, no; I think we have a substantive budget, so the answer is not necessarily more money but what we do with the money we have. And that's what we've been really focusing on—making sure that we try to get as many results, and positive results, as we can with what we're spending, and get partners.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
I hope you can get some of that $30 million spent on media. I hope it will go into your department.
In terms of the gender audit that you did on the RCMP—and I thank you for jumping in immediately on the RCMP issues when they were raised and your department was given the opportunity to do a gender audit—is that complete?
12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
I'll just clarify that Status of Women Canada does not conduct gender-based audits. I had asked the commissioner if he was interested in meeting with us to discuss the situation, and he very kindly accepted, very quickly.
We had a discussion about what he believed the issues might be. One of the suggestions in that meeting was for him to hire a specialist. We did supply a list of names of consultants who specialize in gender audits, and we provided some recommendations as to where the gender audit could be conducted.
At the same time, at Status of Women we realized there wasn't a lot of information on gender impacts in policing, so Status of Women Canada hired a consultant as well to do an examination of what had been done internationally in this area. We have that on our website. We have shared how to address gender issues in policing with all policing organizations.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Following that exchange of information with Commissioner Paulson, did he reach out to share with you the results of the work he has done, or has there been any further collaboration on those issues?
12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
The gender audit has been completed. In fact, the commissioner has tabled with Minister Toews a 37-point action plan dealing with a series of recommendations in order to address those issues, yes.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Was there any discussion with the department before that was finalized?
12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
At the officer level, there are always some contacts and relationships. Our policy officers always deal with departments as they are undertaking GBA, so I'm sure there were contacts. I wouldn't know specifically what they were.
12:35 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
There wasn't a direct “This is what we're suggesting: what do you think?”
12:35 p.m.
Coordinator and Head of Agency, Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women Canada
No.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I have a few questions along the same lines as those of my colleagues.
Ms. Clément, could you tell us exactly how the projects have contributed in terms of leadership?
This builds exactly on what Joan Crockatt was asking previously, the leadership question. We're not just funding abuse centres and shelters; although we are, but we're taking it to the next step.
I'm very interested in hearing some project descriptions. Are you giving business skills to women who have to reorganize their whole lives because they are fleeing from abuse? Are you giving them career start skills? What kind of projects are you putting in to make a difference so they can be economic contributors in the same way you are, and it seems we all want to be?
