Status of Women Committee on Nov. 26th, 2013

[Linda Savoie]

We were seeking an approach that would give us more comparable data so that we could identify what works and what is maybe not quite as successful.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Does that imply that prior to that, you did not have the kind of framework or structure in place to adequately quantify projects to give you the desired outcomes?

[Linda Savoie]

I would say that we had very solid, qualitative data, good indications of what works, but we were not as solid in establishing the proof, establishing a chain of results. Sometimes it was more difficult for us to establish that it was our intervention that caused something to happen. We're hoping now that by building more rigour into the process and having a logic model for each of these projects and key results that need to be achieved, we'll be able to capture more easily what works and what doesn't work. More important, we will share that back to the communities so that groups that have an interest in this subject matter across the country can access what works and what doesn't work, and not reinvent the wheel locally, with futility at times.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

Are you saying that you're more confident with your logic model and the new changes that you've implemented, that you are now able to document and qualify that the program funding was successful and able to distribute the results of that across Canada?

[Linda Savoie]

I'm very confident that we're going to have very good data—

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

That's good.

[Linda Savoie]

—and we will be able to identify what works best, what works in certain circumstances, and what works in limited circumstances. Not every evaluation will show that everything works for a given situation, but it will hopefully allow us to identify the success factors for where it should be used as a recipe. That's our broader evaluation strategy.

Also, we have a strategy whereby each project, once it's selected, has interim reporting and final close-outs that have to be submitted. We are able to assess each and every project, how successful they were at meeting the key results. We then look at the projects within a stream. Now we're able to start doing that because we launched this approach of calls for proposals, a directive for calls for proposals, nearly three years ago. We are getting the first batch of projects that are closing and we will be able to assess clusters of projects that were addressing a similar issue and learn lessons from that.

Every year we also look at all the projects that closed, either a sampling of them or the totality of them, depending on the interest for that specific year. We identify what results were achieved for that cluster of projects that have closed.

We do evaluations at a number of levels. Hopefully for us all the pieces fit together, and these give us a very good indication of where we should be tweaking and adjusting the program in its next iteration.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

What does the department do in terms of disseminating the information or the learnings that are derived from the successful projects?

It sometimes occurs to me as I travel across Canada that it's such a shame some wildly successful and very effective programs are not shared across Canada with other groups, where they could have a dynamic effect.

[Linda Savoie]

What we've been exploring in recent years, for about two years, is when we select projects for funding, for instance, the campus projects.... We had some 22 or 24 projects that were selected for funding. We tried to create a community among the project proponents, where they would be put in contact by teleconference to share learnings. We could, at times, bring in an academic expert or an expert group to make a presentation to these groups so that collectively they share learnings.

Our hope is that they will become a community that will outlast us, so that once we're no longer there as a funder, the linkages we have created will continue and will allow these groups to share their experiences and save time and money, not reinvent things on an individual basis.

We do those types of things, connecting groups.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

On behalf of the committee members, I would like to sincerely thank you once again for having come today and for having provided us with detailed answers to our questions. If we have any more questions, I am sure that we will be able to call upon you. Once again, thank you very much.

We are now going to suspend the hearing for a few minutes in order to give our guests time to leave the room. We will then take a few minutes to discuss our next meeting and to adopt, or not, what we have just discussed.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

It is now time to follow up on the first part of our meeting.

HUMAN RESOURCES AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT Department Vote 25b—Office of the Coordinator, Status of Women—Operating expenditures........ $1,600,000

(Vote 25b carries.)

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Does the committee order the chair to report Supplementary Estimates (B) 2013-2014 to the House?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

This will be done before the December 5 deadline.

Now, in terms of our Thursday meeting, we have not yet had any confirmation from the witnesses, whether from Health Canada or from Status of Women Canada. The people from Status of Women Canada have told us that given their mandate, they do not see how they could contribute at this point in time to the study presented in our motion.

Furthermore, our analysts have begun some groundwork and have started preparing a briefing document on the topic of Mr. Young's motion. However, they have not been in a position to provide us with this document given that the subject matter is so broad.

Therefore, I would like to know what the committee's wishes are given that we do not have any witnesses for now and given that this is a study that we will probably begin in January.

I would also like to tell you that we will probably have the opportunity over the next two weeks to consider the report on sexual harassment. There will be three or four committee meetings on this starting next week.

I would now like to know what you think about our Thursday meeting.

Ms. Truppe, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think the bells are ringing, but I just want to say that Ms. Ashton and I decided at our last meeting that we don't want to waste a meeting if we don't have to, and that we should fill it with witnesses.

We each gave five witnesses. I know the clerk is sick, but does that mean everything stops? I don't know how that works. With 15 witnesses, we should be able to get someone. I know Mr. Young has spoken to someone whose name he submitted, and he's quite willing to appear on Thursday.

I'm not sure, but what is the clerk doing about the witnesses, I guess would be my question.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

I believe that she has done some work on that. The problem has more to do with preparation time. It can be somewhat easier for witnesses from departments, for example, to be ready with a presentation. For witnesses coming from the outside, it could be a little more difficult because we do not necessarily have specific guidelines to give them with respect to the content of their presentations.

Mr. Young, you have the floor.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

We have a plan. As far as I know you have 15 potential witnesses. I understand the clerk is off ill. That can happen, but does everything just stop? Has the clerk not made any calls to any of these people? Do we not know that?

I talked to some people saying that we're going to start on Thursday. I asked them last week if they would be available Tuesday and Thursday. One of them, a key witness, said he would make himself available. He's so excited that we're doing a study.

I don't even know at this point if anyone's called these people. My question is, what is going on?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

From what I understand, the committee appears to be agreeing on a Thursday meeting. We will make sure there are witnesses. We already have witnesses on standby from Health Canada.

Mr. Young, you mentioned a potential witness. I will tell the clerk this and we will make sure we have witnesses on Thursday.

Yes, Ms. Crockatt?

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Madam Chair, I'm surprised we're having this conversation because we had previously decided it would be starting on Thursday. We've sent our full witness list and they are ready to come, so there is no problem.

There is only the issue about the clerk. We should have a backup plan if the clerk is not available.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

We just need to determine whether or not witnesses are available for Thursday and make sure that they have enough time to prepare their presentations.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Mr. Young, you have the floor. We will then move on to Mrs. Sellah.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

One of those witnesses is willing to appear on Thursday. When I spoke to him, I cautioned him that an opening statement would be great and that he should get it in a couple of days early for translation. That may not be possible now.

Would the committee members agree to a written statement in English only, under these circumstances?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

Mr. Young, in that case usually the witness can make their remarks. If the brief is not translated, we will not hand it out but we will make sure it is available in both official languages after it has been presented.

Mrs. Sellah, you have the floor.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

If I understood you correctly, you said that Status of Women Canada does not have any witnesses who could appear for the purposes of this study?

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

No, it was simply that for now they wanted to have a little more information on the kind of presentation they could do on the subject of the motion.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Exactly. I think it would be quite relevant for them to present before us because usually that is how a committee works. We cannot simply hear witnesses at the last minute without there being studies or research based on authentic data.

I assume they noted that this did not fall under our committee's mandate, but rather that of the Standing Committee on Health.

[The Chair, NDP, Hélène LeBlanc]

However, we can still invite them so that they can tell us what their mandate is and so that they have an opportunity to clarify that.