Status of Women Committee on Oct. 26th, 2016

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

All right. I'll call the meeting to order.

I'd like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional grounds of the Algonquin first nations.

Our guest for the first panel discussion is Tracy O'Hearn, who is the executive director of the Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada. Welcome, and we look forward to your comments. You'll have 10 minutes.

[Tracy O'Hearn, Executive Director, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada]

Thank you very much. I didn't realize that I would be your only witness, so I tried to keep our remarks brief to allow as much time as possible for a discussion.

I'd like to begin by bringing greetings on behalf of President Rebecca Kudloo. She sends thanks to the chair, vice-chairs, and committee members for the invitation. She lives in Baker Lake, Nunavut, and was not able to be here today, so I am here on her behalf. My colleague Rose Mary Cooper is here as well.

We'd like to begin by lighting a candle, to remind us all of why we are here today and who we are here for. As you all know, quite recently we lost Annie Pootoogook in Ottawa. Regardless of the circumstances or cause of her death, she is one of far too many Inuit women who live in very difficult circumstances, a lot of times for reasons beyond their immediate control. My friend and colleague Rose Mary will light a candle for Annie. Perhaps, as she does, we can just take a moment to reflect on Annie and the far too many women we've lost.

[A moment of silence observed]

Thank you.

This is one of the candles that we used for some ceremonies and remembrance at the pre-consultation meeting we held leading to the national inquiry around missing and murdered women. It was a very powerful four days.

I don't expect you all to be familiar with Pauktuutit. I know some of us have met before and worked together before. Pauktuutit is the national representative organization of all Inuit women in Canada. It is unique from the Native Women's Association of Canada. It is autonomous from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. The organization has been in existence for 32 years, since 1984, with a very broad mandate. It was created upon the initiation of the then Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, which at that time was very busy with the regional land claims negotiations and settlements implementation. They recognized that there was a broad range of social and health issues that were priorities that needed to be addressed. Recognizing the traditional and valued role of women, they asked that Pauktuutit be created with its own separate and unique mandate. We're very proud that 32 years later we're still able to continue the spirit and intention of the original founders.

When we met earlier this afternoon, in looking at the scope of your study and wanting to keep our comments quite brief, we prepared some comments that specifically relate to the priorities for the study into violence against women and girls.

We have done some initial work on cyber-violence, specifically looking at human trafficking and sex trafficking of Inuit girls, primarily—not only girls, but boys as well—and looking at the unique vulnerabilities. We had been aware of it for some time, but often government priorities change. As a result, we may have new or emerging opportunities to look at issues.

We had a workshop three or four years ago at one of our annual general meetings. That's the one time of the year that we know we can bring Inuit women together from all the regions to talk about priorities and past resolutions, and set direction for the organization. When we first started, we got a bit of money, and we had to think, how are we going to bring this up? A lot of our work is done in Inuktitut. There are many different dialects of Inuktitut, and some vary from community to community. When we started planning our workshop, we had to think, how will we even introduce this? There's no concept in Inuktitut that would equate to human trafficking, and sure enough, a lot of people associate trafficking with cars and cities.

As an example of the way we do our work, we had to find a starting point. We asked people to please advise on how to start bringing this up nationally so that we're not scaring people, so people don't have the idea that some arm is going to reach out of a computer monitor and grab their children, but also to raise awareness.

There are some unique vulnerabilities.

The Northwest Passage is now ice-free. We're seeing cruise ships full of wealthy tourists stopping in remote communities that in many ways were previously, I don't want to say out of touch, but not subject to those sorts of visitors.

We also have a lot of mines, resource exploration and extraction, and a lot of transient workforces, primarily male. We have done a bit of work on the social and health impacts of mining on Inuit women. We have looked at everything from racism to sexual assault in the mine as a workplace in Baker Lake.

Coming back to cyber-violence, unique vulnerabilities for the exploitation of women and girls, we're seeing new things that hadn't been anticipated like the opening of the Northwest Passage.

We were only able to do that one small project, looking at human trafficking and sex trafficking. Government priorities changed. We haven't been able to do any further work, but there certainly is a need.

We don't use the term “hyper-sexualization”, which is referenced in the scope of your study, but as I've already said, there are many concerns about exploitation and the unique vulnerabilities of Inuit girls and boys, and young girls.

We know that the communities across the north experience the highest rates of violence in the country. I'm not going to bring forward a bunch of statistics; they're readily available.

There has been a housing crisis in the communities for decades. Various levels of government either absolve themselves of responsibility or are busy trying to meet many urgent and competing priorities, as the Government of Nunavut is.

When we think about hyper-sexualization, my colleague and I have seen it far too often: young girls who may live in an overcrowded home with violence and not enough to eat. Food security is a huge issue in the north. There are children who are hungry in the north. These are some examples of how they can be uniquely vulnerable to being preyed upon by regular workers, but also, as we know, there are very sophisticated predators around the world who identify vulnerable victims.

When looking at hyper-sexualization and thinking about our work and our priorities, we see the increasing sexualization of very young girls, unfortunately, who may see sex as a commodity to be exchanged in return for a secure place to stay, and food. Too often drugs and alcohol are used to lure young girls. So yes, we're very familiar with that.

In relation to rape culture—

I'm sorry, am I at one minute?

These are some examples in how we looked at the scope of your study.

In terms of the equality of Inuit women in Canada, you asked for recommendations about what the federal government could do. The federal government needs to consult directly with Inuit women through Pauktuutit. As I said, we're not represented by NWAC or any other organization. There's a meeting this afternoon of the new Federal-Provincial-Territorial-Indigenous Forum. We're not there. I didn't know about it. We weren't invited. I learned that in passing from a colleague in our building who was on his way to the meeting.

So I'd welcome the opportunity to talk more about substantive equality. Whether we're looking at this issue or any other issue, we continue to look for opportunities to work in a meaningful way with the federal government. We have not had the success we expected a year past the election.

I do thank you for your time. I don't know how that went so quickly. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Excellent. We'll certainly dig into this a bit deeper with our questions. We are going to start our first round of questioning with Mr. Fraser.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

Thank you very much for being here, Ms. O'Hearn. I very much appreciate your sharing your information and experience with us.

You mentioned the housing crisis as one of the many challenging priorities for Inuit women, and perhaps the north more generally. I can't comprehend the scope of the challenge that you are facing with the geography, in combination with the cost of infrastructure in the north, which I understand is many degrees greater than it is in most of our country.

Could you perhaps elaborate a little on the kinds of investments we could recommend that would really help women in different indigenous communities in the north from a housing or a transition shelter perspective, or even support services for women who have been the victims of gender-based violence?

[Tracy O'Hearn]

That's a broad question. I know that our colleagues at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami are planning a national housing forum in formal partnership with the regional land claims organizations. They are sort of the facilitators of infrastructure, as in bricks and mortar.

In thinking about our participation in that forum, we again try to come back to our primary concerns. I am glad you raised the issue of the needs of victims of violence. We've spoken many times about the need for safe shelters. There are 53 Inuit communities across Inuit Nunangat—in the Beaufort delta, Nunavut, Arctic Quebec, and Nunatsiavut. In those 53 communities, there are approximately 15 safe shelters, so more than 70% of Inuit communities do not have a safe shelter for women. There are a number of issues around that.

We hope to work with INAC this fiscal year to try to develop some evidence around the actual needs. We have just identified a highly skilled research consultant whom we hope to work with. We need evidence. I can't give you specific recommendations that are evidence-based; I wish I could. There is no second-stage housing at all.

It really is a very complex and broad question you ask. There are no quick fixes. The building construction season is short. It depends on shipping seasons and getting construction materials there ahead of time.

We've done as much work as we can, almost on an anecdotal basis around what the needs are, so we appreciate help in trying to develop that evidence. I don't want to use the term “business case” in relation to that issue. That's the best answer I can give you today.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

On the same broad issue—and I appreciate that it is very broad—we are going to end up making recommendations to the government as a result of this study. If only 15 of 53 Inuit communities have access to a safe shelter, I assume there is probably a gap in the kinds of support services that would often be associated with the shelter as well.

Would it be a fair assumption for me to make that you would like to see safe shelters and support services that can be accessed by each of these 53 Inuit communities?

[Tracy O'Hearn]

I wouldn't want to say yes or no to that question. Shelters are still a band-aid. They are an emergency response to violence that has already happened.

We hope to try to build some evidence around investment and prevention, which would only reduce the hard financial costs of medevacs, rehabilitation treatment out of territory, and so on.

There is a policy issue that I bring forward every year and that I think would benefit from a recommendation by this committee. The federal government, through INAC, provides funding for shelters on-reserve only. If we think about that in terms of what many would consider to be a fiduciary responsibility, not a policy-based decision—if we think about the federal government's fiduciary responsibility via the Constitution—Inuit communities are specifically excluded from accessing any federal funds specific to shelters in indigenous communities.

It was around $40 million a year. This government doubled it to $80 million a year, but as I have said quite recently, that's double the nothing that Inuit communities have been able to access. The federal government will tell us that shelters are the responsibility of provincial and territorial governments. That may be the case, but looking at the Government of Nunavut as an example, with the myriad of serious issues that they are trying to triage on a daily basis, we know that shelters haven't made it up their list of priorities as they should. As a result, nothing is done.

That could be a very significant and substantive recommendation from this committee—that Inuit communities be able to access equitably federal funding for shelters in indigenous communities. I really appreciate that question.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I have only about one minute remaining, and I would like to spend a day with you learning about different things. I hope we get into the justice system for victims, but since we only have a minute, could you lay out the biggest priority or maybe a few of them that the federal government could help with from a prevention perspective? That would be very helpful, but we are short on time. I appreciate it's difficult.

[Tracy O'Hearn]

Yes. It has only been two generations since Inuit have been living in communities so we've seen huge shifts from the traditional economy to the wage economy. The housing stock has not kept pace with the fastest-growing population in the country so within that context there is such a need to help build capacity in the communities.

Generally, there aren't civil society organizations, not-for-profits, that we take for granted across the country, even to engage in developing proposals and receive funding, so that is an area where we try to fill that gap, definitely human development, capacity building, and options. I know these are big issues and big recommendations, but we need to find the starting points.

I wish I could be more specific.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

That's no problem.

[Tracy O'Hearn]

You're welcome to come to our office any time. We would be happy to welcome you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We're going to go to Mr. Genuis for seven minutes.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Ms. O'Hearn. It's great to have you before the committee today.

I note your organization has done some work specifically on engaging men and boys in the fight against violence against women. Could you share a little of the work you have done in that area and some of your insights?

[Tracy O'Hearn]

It would be my pleasure. That was in my notes that I didn't get to.

With Status of Women Canada, under the previous government we completed the first phase of a two-year project looking at precisely that, engaging Inuit men and boys. We did several pieces as part of that. We did a gender-based analysis that demonstrates the different impacts on men and women because we know women have had greater success in engaging in the wage economy, in securing full-time employment, and there has been a really significant change in the traditional roles.

Men who had been valued as hunters and providers have been increasingly displaced from that role, are feeling devalued, and so I think that's a great example of what is different in Inuit culture and what has changed significantly today. It is an example of what needs to be addressed to try to encourage men and boys to become part of the solution.

We've always looked at both sides, to see that a problem has a solution. Unfortunately, and even though that funding was committed under the previous government, we've been trying to finalize a proposal with Status of Women Canada for the best part of a year for phase two. Again, when I say I wish we had achieved more success with the current government by now, that's a perfect example of where despite our best efforts we haven't been able to move forward. We're ready.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you.

Your comments are very interesting. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that many men in these communities are going through a bit of an identity crisis because of changes that are happening that are affecting men in a particular way?

[Tracy O'Hearn]

That would be a fair way to describe it. Yes. Absolutely.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

That's interesting.

One of the things we've talked about earlier in this committee when it comes to men and boys is the impact of false beliefs that come from pop culture, and from for instance pornography that lead to certain attitudes about violence.

I would be curious for your thoughts as well and on policy responses that can address the fact that people are absorbing false and negative beliefs about violence from certain kinds of media.

[Tracy O'Hearn]

I don't want to sound completely theoretical and so abstract as to be vague, but people have only lived in settlements for two generations. There was the imposition of foreign systems of education and religion. We could call it patriarchy, colonization. We can describe it many ways. All of these things were imposed. Traditional ways of justice were displaced and devalued. That is the big picture to look at.

In terms of policy recommendations, I think we're already off to a good start looking at the TRC “Calls to Action” and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. We have a lot of direction, a lot of recommendations. What we haven't had is the political will to get serious about it.

I wish I could give you discrete responses and solutions and policy recommendations. I can't.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I appreciate your comments. It's interesting. I want to then probe a bit this connection between media and colonization. We know that these different kinds of media presentations of violence have an impact on people everywhere, but it sounded like you were saying that the nature of that impact on people with this fairly recent history of colonization may be different. Could you flesh that out a bit? Is the impact more? Is the impact less? How do you think the impact would be on an Inuit community, let's say, compared to elsewhere?

[Tracy O'Hearn]

I couldn't reply in any sort of evidence-based way. I worked with the Pauktuutit for more than 20 years overall, and very early on, pornography was identified as a significant priority in the communities. This was before the days of Internet. This was before the days of regularly scheduled flights, mining and resource extraction, and transient workforces. In my time, pornography has been identified. We're talking probably about copies of Playboy. If we look at what has happened to pornography across society, the unbelievably violent nature of pornography, and what we're learning from other places about the normalization and desensitization as a result, absolutely there has to be an impact. We haven't had an opportunity to do any research into it. Given the myriad immediate priorities, that hasn't been identified as a top priority by our membership for the organization. Maybe in some ways the Internet access isn't what we take for granted here. There is no fibre optic, and there are very slow download speeds, which might be a good thing when we think about things like streaming of pornography. I don't even really know what is out there now. I think it would merit some discussion.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Do I have more time, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

You have 20 seconds.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Restorative justice mechanisms have some relevance to this area. Do you have any thoughts on what we can learn from the Inuit and other first nations peoples who have some greater history with these mechanisms? Maybe you can answer it in someone else's time.

[Tracy O'Hearn]

That's a very full question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

It is now over to Ms. Moore for seven minutes.