Evidence of meeting #38 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was women's.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Hélène LeBlanc
Thank you very much.
Ms. Ashton, the floor is yours. You have seven minutes.
November 27th, 2014 / 10:35 a.m.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Ms. Decter, I also want to applaud you and the YWCA for launching the #NOTokay campaign. I understand that it did go viral. I see it used very often. I've seen it being used very often to speak to the range of triggers that women see and are obviously not okay.
I'm wondering if you could speak a bit, as a number of our witnesses have spoken, about the importance around education on consent. In the last couple of weeks I've spoken about this numerous times in relation to what we're dealing with here in Parliament: allegations of sexual harassment and even assault. I found that often, both in interacting with the media in interviews and even among colleagues, including well-meaning colleagues, there is a very vague or unclear understanding of consent. It just makes me think of how important it is to have broad-based education and awareness.
We heard of success stories in the schools, and we know of work on campuses, but we know also how important it is in our very society and in reaching out to folks who are older than those in high school or junior high and engaging them using this kind of language going forward.
10:35 a.m.
Director, Advocacy and Public Policy, YWCA Canada
Absolutely.
First I will say that it is not my area of expertise. I would definitely bow to the two people we have from B.C. for more detailed expertise on this.
But it would definitely seem that the media and the general public are lacking in understanding of explicit continuing consent to sexual activity. That's not surprising, given the language. What exactly does that mean?
You see in the United States a lot campuses are moving to “yes means yes”, which is a simpler way of saying that you need a continual “yes” for what is going on. We really do need a lot of education around that.
On the one hand, there's a lot of backlash going on from people who don't even understand that what they're saying is backlash. But the prioritizing, for example, on Parliament Hill of what the women MPs have to say about the situation right now is a good thing. That's a start. That's where all women's services begin, in listening to women and listening to their stories.
Education on consent is key. I didn't know about B.C. and West Coast LEAF's education for grades 7 and 8, but I think we need to go to curriculum. It should be in the health curriculum for young people, girls and boys, to learn exactly what consent is, so they come out of school with an understanding of explicit continuing consent to sexual activity.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Thank you.
Mrs. Govender, I'm wondering if you could speak to where we are on this. Is there a role for the federal government to support this kind of education? Again this is not just in terms of in our educational institutions, but also in the broader society, reaching out to folks who are older than those whom you might work with. I'm wondering if you could speak a bit to that.
10:35 a.m.
Executive Director, West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund
Absolutely there's a role. I don't want to take sole credit for running an education program. There are other really important education programs run across the country by our sister organization, LEAF national. There's a project actually right now that is being run by the Girls Action Foundation. It's looking at best practices on education, not simply around the law of consent, but around preventing Internet partner violence.
There are important initiatives taking place, but they're taking place in the non-profit sector, and it would be great to see those initiatives also taking place in the public sector and in universities across the country.
10:40 a.m.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Thank you very much.
Mrs. Govender, we've seen record cuts in terms of women's programming across the country. In fact we know especially national LEAF has suffered a great deal as a result of these deep cuts. I'm wondering if you think it's important that the federal government support advocacy and put that kind of advocacy focus on things like education around consent.
10:40 a.m.
Executive Director, West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund
It's really a significant point, the lack of funding across the country for civil society that works on human rights issues and more particularly on women's issues. You can see the lack of national women's organizations. There are very few left. That didn't use to be the case. This is important for protecting women's interests. It's really important that the federal government move into this space, but it's also really important that the federal government support dissenting voices. That's what makes a healthy democracy and it's what protects minorities and protects vulnerable people, protects women. I think that's a really key point to come out of this study.
10:40 a.m.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill, MB
Thank you.
Mrs. Govender, you've done some excellent work on the subject of the violence that women with disabilities face. I'm wondering if you could speak a bit to recommendations that we need to take forward on this front.
10:40 a.m.
Executive Director, West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund
We recently produced a report called “Able Mothers: The intersection of parenting, disability and the law”, and I'm happy to send that to the committee. There are some recommendations for the federal government. Throughout this report there are recommendations about providing access to justice. There are also some key issues around housing in this report, housing, as you can imagine, that's adapted for women to be able to parent when they have certain limitations, physical limitations, for example. It's really important that they're not displaced from that housing because there's a lot of work that goes into adapting housing. That's one recommendation.
I'm also happy to send the report out for the other recommendations and specifically highlight the recommendations for the federal government.
10:40 a.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Hélène LeBlanc
Thank you very much. Any comments or add-ons that you would like to send, I would invite you to send to the clerk.
I would like to thank very much our guests here in Ottawa, Dr. Cook and Ms. Decter, and particularly the people in Vancouver, who I just realized had to get up fairly early to be with us. Thank you very much for your input to this very important study.
Many thanks to all the members of the committee.
We will meet again on Tuesday, at the same time. Three witnesses have confirmed that they will attend the meeting.
The meeting is adjourned.