Status of Women Committee on April 7th, 2014

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Good afternoon and welcome to the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

In our first hour, we'll be hearing from witnesses on economic leadership and the prosperity of Canadian women.

We are pleased to welcome, from Status of Women Canada, Linda Savoie, Senior Director General of the Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, and Sébastien Goupil, Director General of Policy and External Relations. From the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, we have John Gartke, Director of Trade Missions, Consultations and Outreach, and Zoe Hawa, Trade Commissioner for Business Women in International Trade.

Ms. Savoie, from Status of Women Canada, will start us off.

You have 10 minutes. Please go ahead.

[Linda Savoie, Senior Director General, Women's Program and Regional Operations Directorate, Status of Women Canada]

Thank you kindly, Madam Chair.

As just mentioned, I'm Linda Savoie. I welcome the opportunity to appear before this committee as part of its study examining the economic leadership and prosperity of Canadian women, including in the area of entrepreneurship.

As you already know, for the most part Status of Women Canada works to promote and advance equality for women and girls through its focus in three priority areas. The first is ending violence; the second is increasing the representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles; and the third, which is very relevant today, is increasing women's economic security and prosperity.

These three priorities allow us to take a comprehensive approach to promoting gender equality between men and women and also to consider the needs of diverse groups of women and girls across the country.

Advancing women's economic prosperity is a responsibility that is broadly shared by the private sector, various levels of government, and certainly a number of our federal departments and agencies. Through our collective efforts over the past decades, women now represent some 47% to 48% of the Canadian workforce. Women hold leading positions in government, in the private sector, and in the non-profit sector, and women are graduating from our academic institutions in ever-increasing numbers.

At the same time, as policy-makers we know that challenges remain. We can all recognize that because of a variety of social and economic factors. Part-time work remains considerably more frequent among women than among men. In what are often still seen as traditionally female sectors of the economy, such as the health occupations, women earn just 47¢ for every dollar earned by men, according to Conference Board of Canada data. The incidence of low income among female lone-parent families is some three times higher than that in lone-parent families headed by men.

In 2012 women represented just 4% of those working in construction trades and 20% of those working in primary industries, such as forestry, mining, and oil and gas. As apprentices, women remain under-represented. In fact, women accounted for just 14% of registered apprentices in 2011. In the business world, women held majority ownership of only a very small percentage of small and medium-sized businesses, some 16% in 2011.

Finally, as a last thought, women today still hold only about a quarter of senior management positions in Financial Post 500 companies and less than 16% of total board seats within those companies.

These statistics underscore the importance of having access to good data to inform policies at the federal level affecting the economic situation of women in Canada.

For this reason, Status of Women Canada, in its role as a knowledge broker, has financially supported regular updates to the Statistics Canada publication entitled Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report. The report, which we shared with you at a previous meeting, shows where the gaps and opportunities are for women in Canada. The research demonstrates that there are many determinants of economic well-being for women in Canada, which is why the federal government takes a multi-faceted approach in responding to this important issue.

In response to these challenges, the government has put in place a number of measures, some of which you will hear about from my colleagues at Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada. I also hope that you will have the opportunity to hear from other officials representing key federal departments that are working to advance economic opportunity and economic empowerment for women in Canada.

For its part, Status of Women Canada has invested more than $53 million in funding since 2007 for projects that specifically focus on improving women's economic security and prosperity. Of this amount, over $9 million has been approved for projects to support women in entrepreneurship, and over $12 million has been approved to recruit and advance women in non-traditional sectors.

A recent call for proposals is helping communities create new economic opportunities for women by advancing women in non-traditional occupations, increasing economic options for women, and improving prosperity for immigrant women.

Finally, I want to highlight for the committee that Status of Women Canada's role supporting implementation of gender-based analysis across government also helps improve the quality of economic support provided to women by departments and agencies. This occurs by integrating gender considerations—that is, the unique attributes of men and women and how their circumstances may differ—into the decision-making processes of government.

Madam Chair, all of these measures indicate how Status of Women Canada works with its partners to increase the economic security and prosperity of women in Canada, which we will continue doing in the weeks and months ahead.

I hope this information will be useful as the committee embarks on its study.

I thank the committee for its time today and would be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you, Ms. Savoie.

Mr. Gartke, you now have the floor for 10 minutes.

[John Gartke, Director, Trade Missions, Consultations and Outreach, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair and honourable members, for the opportunity to join you this afternoon.

I've brought some members of my team to discuss and to share with you some thoughts on the important topic of Canadian businesswomen in international trade.

In my comments this afternoon I'll provide an overview of the Canadian businesswomen in international trade program, or BWIT as we like to call it, and highlight some of the important work being done by the BWIT program to increase opportunities for Canadian businesswomen on the global stage.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development recognizes the vital role that women play in our economy. Since 1997 the BWIT program has been dedicated to assisting, promoting, and advocating for women-owned businesses in the area of international trade.

The main objectives of the BWIT program are: to develop initiatives that support and engage businesswomen in the international marketplace; to provide export advice, guidance, and access to information and services specifically for women entrepreneurs on subjects including support networks, government resources, and special trade events; to provide awareness and training to adequately prepare businesswomen to tap into international markets; and finally, to provide opportunities for women-focused trade missions.

In this vein, the trade commissioner service is well positioned to assist Canadian businesswomen. With offices in about 150 cities around the world and across Canada, the trade commissioner service offers key market insights and assists by helping businesses to prepare for international markets and grow their global footprint. The BWIT program is an important component and is strongly aligned with the trade commissioner service. The BWIT program serves as a conduit to a wealth of products and services that can be leveraged by Canadian women exporters.

Our flagship publication—I think copies have been distributed to everybody—is an annual BWIT newsletter. We have the 2013 edition. The 2014 edition should be released in, I would say, the next six to eight weeks. The publication showcases successful Canadian women exporters, promotes the benefits of exporting, and disseminates information regarding key government-wide international business programs and services. The newsletter is distributed widely to more than 2,500 entrepreneurs and stakeholders and is available to download on the BWIT or TCS websites.

Speaking of the website, it is a one-stop resource for Canadian businesswomen dedicated to growing their business internationally. Maintained by us, it receives about 25,000 hits per year and endeavours to provide up-to-date information on a range of educational and funding programs; links to key contacts in government support agencies, financial institutions, and a variety of regional, national, and international associations; as well as export advice geared to improve the competitiveness of international markets.

A couple of years ago, the BWIT team launched a LinkedIn group to connect entrepreneurs throughout Canada. With more than a thousand active members—and growing very quickly, I might add—the BWIT LinkedIn group provides a two-way conversation and a rich source of intelligence and practical information for entrepreneurs that is produced by us and by entrepreneurs. The group was recently nominated by Canadian's Internet Business as one of Canada's top business groups on LinkedIn, joining the likes of The Globe and Mail's small business LinkedIn group.

Through our other online e-channels, BWIT receives more than 100 service requests annually, specifically to assist women-owned businesses.

Your handout kit also flags a number of articles and achievements of the BWIT program that were included in our publication CanadExport, the department's bimonthly electronic trade newsletter, which boasts around 21,000 subscribers. A special edition was released to commemorate International Women's Day about a month ago featuring many successes realized by Canadian businesswomen in the international marketplace.

Success on that platform also requires public and private sector collaboration. Last month we partnered with Industry Canada to develop a specialized, women-owned directory in Industry Canada's Canadian company capabilities database, the CCC. The CCC database includes more than 50,000 Canadian companies and receives more than five million domestic and international visits and queries a year.

The specialized directory will help businesswomen, we are convinced, to identify and promote their products and services to potential customers in Canada and abroad as well as to partner with other women-owned businesses. It also provides corporations that have supplier diversity initiatives and programs access to a dedicated listing of women-owned businesses across the country.

A prominent feature of our BWIT program, with three or four people, is its ability to develop strong partnerships at the national, regional, and international levels to support Canadian women entrepreneurs. An example of this is the establishment of WEConnect Canada . Launched about five years ago with the assistance of Status of Women Canada and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, this non-profit organization certifies Canadian women majority-owned businesses as well as playing a role in delivering education, training, coaching, and mentoring programs.

Our BWIT program also offers a number of strategic initiatives in collaboration with these partner organizations. For instance, we have developed a strong collaborative relationship with provincial organizations and regional businesswomen's organizations across the country. Through this partnership, a common client-base of businesswomen has been developed to create synergies to increase access to sharing information on new initiatives, such as the Canadian company capabilities database, contract opportunities, events, trade missions, and export market training opportunities.

Over the past five years, the BWIT program has played a leading role in organizing a trade mission to the Women's Business Enterprise National Council, or WBENC, at their national conference and business fair in the United States. An average number of participants per mission is 125 businesswomen and key stakeholders. The WBENC event is the largest supplier diversity procurement trade show in North America, with more than 3,000 attendees and upwards of 350 exhibitors.

Through engagement in this conference, our department provides Canadian businesswomen with supplier diversity and U.S. market insight, while connecting them with America's leading corporations that are committed to doing business with women-owned businesses. Over the last five years, hundreds of thousands of dollars of contracts have been secured from these trade missions.

A good example is the success of a businesswoman from B.C. who joined us on a women-focused trade mission to Nevada, and presented her product to the purchasing officer of MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. She is now supplying her product, which is an environmentally friendly and reusable name badge, to all of the MGM line of hotels and casinos worldwide. Another example is a businesswoman from Prince Edward Island who is now supplying abrasives and sandpaper products through major hardware chains in the United States—a result of attending a trade mission organized by the BWIT program. There are many successes like these.

It is clear that where public resources have been committed to developing and implementing targeted programs to support businesswomen, particularly in private-public partnerships, the level of awareness and the activity of women entrepreneurs increase substantially.

In closing, I'd like to highlight a recent RBC study on small and medium-sized enterprises that predicts that a 10% increase in the number of women-owned firms over the next 10 years would lead to a $50 billion injection into the Canadian economy. This demonstrates that Canadian businesswomen are well placed to lead the charge in strengthening our economy and creating jobs, now and well into the future.

Minister Ed Fast has stated that there's no better job creator than international trade. Therefore, it's only logical that we seek ways to strengthen businesswomen's access to international markets. When Canadian businesses succeed abroad, it translates into jobs and prosperity here at home. Canadian businesswomen are poised to ramp up their efforts internationally and replicate the tremendous successes they have achieved here in Canada.

DFATD, our department, and the trade commissioner service are ready, willing, and able to help them out on that journey.

Thank you kindly, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you very much.

We will now move on to questions.

Ms. Truppe, you may go ahead for seven minutes.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I'd like to thank everyone for coming here today. You're our first witnesses. Welcome and thank you, that was very helpful.

I have some questions for both of you, but I think I'll start with DFATD first.

The BWIT program that you have, you said it connects the entrepreneurs across Canada. You specifically talked about the LinkedIn group and I found that very interesting.

I have a couple of questions on that. I wonder if you can elaborate a bit more on the LinkedIn group that you have there. Is it one-on-one like a mentorship program that they can talk back and forth? How do you promote it so that a lot of women know about this?

[John Gartke]

LinkedIn, being a social media-type vehicle, can be one-on-one, but in the short experience that I've seen with the program, one person has a question and multiple people have answers and advice.

While it can facilitate that one-on-one, what I've seen is that there's advice coming from all corners of the country to specific questions. I wouldn't say it's one-on-one mentoring. I think it takes advantage of the network and the breadth of the membership that is connected to the group to provide solutions and advice to people who have queries.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Sorry, what's the membership?

[John Gartke]

It's 1,000 members and growing.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

These are women all across Canada.

[John Gartke]

The majority of them are women; I wouldn't have a figure on how many of them are men.

I mean, I'm on the women's LinkedIn group, so there's at least one.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Good for you.

How does the word get out about this LinkedIn program? Is it just that when you're on LinkedIn, you seek and then you find this? Or do you actually have something where you promote it to women entrepreneurs?

[John Gartke]

We've promoted it in that publication. It's on our Canada exports site. It's word of mouth. As well, just through our network we're encouraging people to get out and join the LinkedIn group.

But it has a momentum of its own. Clients will refer their other clients and suppliers to it, so it grows organically.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

I know that social media seems to be the way to go with a lot of things. It's actually the first time I've heard about a LinkedIn group like that, so that's really good.

You also mentioned the CCC database. I think you said it had more than 50,000 companies in it. Again, these are just women's companies. Are they run or owned by women, or...?

[John Gartke]

No.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

This is everybody.

[John Gartke]

This is the universe of Canadian companies as it exists in the database.

I'm not sure how many would be women-owned.

[Zoe Hawa, Trade Commissioner, Business Women in International Trade, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

We launched the CCC database on March 7, right before International Women's Day. If you are a woman-owned company, what's great about it is that you can simply check off that fact in order to be part of that specialized directory. That's if you are already part of the 50,000 companies. Otherwise we are definitely encouraging it throughout all of our channels and the website.

We also blog on Industry Canada's Canada Business Network, where we also promote the program and the LinkedIn group as well as the CCC database.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Great. Thank you.

I have one final question before I go over to Status of Women. What barriers would you say women face in international trade, whether it be financially or culturally? What are the main barriers?

[John Gartke]

I think the barriers that would be faced by women entrepreneurs are similar to those faced by any other small or medium-sized enterprise in Canada. Is there a market for my goods? Who is my partner? Is there a demand for my product or service? Who do I do business with in the market?

Financial aspects are another impediment. International trade is expensive to get into. It's not cost-free. It's not risk-free to go to China, for example. But the barriers are not unique to women.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you.

To Status of Women, I know you just talked about the recent call, but can you elaborate on some of the other calls that come to mind that went out, maybe even in the last couple of years? You were talking about $53 million since 2007. What was that money used for? What specific calls would maybe help women entrepreneurs?

[Linda Savoie]

Okay.

Well, in 2013 we had the call that I made reference to in my opening remarks. As a result of this, we've invested a bit over $4 million that will allow us to test certain hypotheses about engaging partners and getting them to identify barriers and opportunities within their recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in non-traditional employment.

We've invested close to another $2 million on the component that was designed to increase economic opportunities for women, which is focusing more on engaging women and community partners to discuss what opportunities are available and to design community-specific strategies.

The third component of last year's call saw us invest $1.3 million to tackle, more specifically, the challenges for immigrant women who continue to remain.... Despite their being better educated than their Canadian women counterparts, they still have higher rates of precarious employment and so on.

Those projects were launched in the last few months and we're looking forward to seeing how these strategies develop. But this was not unique. The previous year we launched six projects that were very specific to the role of women in the digital economy. Again, women are formally about 25% in the information and communications technology labour market. They tend to have issues in terms of not only entering the sector, but also advancing in the sector. So we've launched six projects where the funding recipients are actually working together with collaborative evaluation frameworks to look at things such as the human resource practices, the formalized networks that could be needed to help support women to advance in these environments. So, again, they're fairly new projects.

The previous year, because it was to support the international year of the girl, we had focused our efforts into trying to engage young girls and young women in identifying the barriers to their economic fulfilment. As a result of that, we launched a call that focused on the economic prosperity of girls and invested again some $1.7 million in that on economic projects.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Thank you.

Ms. Ashton, you have seven minutes. Please go ahead.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Welcome to our witnesses today.

Our study here is obviously focused on economic leadership and prosperity, on looking at celebrating the successes, but also looking at the challenges. I think we know in terms of research, but also in terms of our experiences as women, that safety and safety from violence is a key factor in allowing us to prosper.

With that in mind—and I know we heard a bit about what Status of Women funding has gone to over the last number of years—I want to go to the applications for the Status of Women's agency's call for proposals on “Working Together: Engaging communities to end violence against women and girls”. It was launched in 2012. I noticed that 62 out of the 288 organizations on this list are aboriginal organizations that sought funding. Knowing, of course, that indigenous women are both over-represented in terms of marginalization, in terms of poverty, but also in terms of violence, I'm wondering why it is that only two out of the 62 organizations that sought funds, received funds?

I'm wondering why that is the case. But also, if it is a question of criteria, what is Status of Women doing to be able to work through the criteria to allow more indigenous women's organizations to access economic opportunities and opportunities of prosperity?