Status of Women Committee on Feb. 4th, 2022

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I call this meeting to order.

This is the third meeting of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on Tuesday, February 4, the committee will begin its study of intimate partner and domestic violence in Canada.

Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from public health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe, the following is recommended for all those attending the meeting in person.

Specifically to you, Dominique, this is what you need to do. Anyone with symptoms should participate by Zoom and not attend the meeting in person. Everyone must maintain two-metre physical distancing, whether seated or standing. Everyone must wear a non-medical mask when circulating in the room. It is recommended in the strongest possible terms that members wear their masks at all times, including when seated. Non-medical masks, which provide better clarity than do cloth masks, are available in the room. Everyone present must maintain proper hand hygiene by using the hand sanitizer at the room entrance. Committee rooms are cleaned before and after each meeting. To maintain this, everyone is encouraged to clean surfaces such as the desk, chair and microphone with the provided disinfectant wipes when vacating or taking a seat.

For those participating virtually, I would like to outline a few rules to follow. You may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice, at the bottom of your screen, of either floor, English or French audio. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your mike will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officers. I remind everyone that all comments should be addressed through the chair. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

Before we welcome our witnesses today, I have a few administrative pieces that we need to discuss. Everybody should have received some documents. You should all have received a document looking at the budget—a copy of the budget for the study on intimate partner and domestic violence in Canada. Can I get a show of hands that everybody has received that? Fantastic.

Is it the will of the committee to adopt the budget of $7,050 for the study of intimate partner violence and domestic violence in Canada?

Marc, are you good with this? Can I have a show of hands on support for this budget of $7,050?

Mr. Clerk, it looks as though it's a unanimous decision that we can spend this money today. Thank you very much.

Now we will turn to the press release.

Emmanuella, could you look at the French version for us to ensure that it is excellent as well? I would like to review our media release that will be going out specifically around this study. This has been put together by our analyst and our clerk.

Thank you very much for putting this together.

I would like to look at the English version first to see if there are any concerns with the English version of this media release. I am seeing no concerns.

I'm going to ask if there are any concerns.... I'm sorry. I should have asked you, Andréanne. You're always having to speak French. I'm so sorry.

Emmanuella, Andréanne, Marc and Dominique, could you guys look at the French version and let me know whether it is good and matches the words of the English version? Laila is good with that. Are there any comments or concerns with the English or French version?

Emmanuella, are you still reading?

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

I am still reading the French version, but so far I don't see any issues.

Andréanne is probably better than I am though.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Same here. I have no problem with the French version.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

I agree.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's awesome. Could I have a show of hands?

All those in favour of this media release? Is anyone opposed to this media release?

Mr. Clerk, we're good to go. We're good for action.

Thank you very much. It's great that we could get through these so quickly.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Actually, Madam Chair, I just noticed that there may be a little something missing in the French version.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Clerk, may I reopen this, since something has been seen, although it's been passed?

Go ahead, Andréanne.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

In the fifth bullet point, it says that the committee “will consider various international legislative experiences regarding the criminalization of coercive and manipulative behaviours between intimate partners.”

I just noticed that the words “et sur les autres outils de politiques publiques” are missing.

It's important because it adds something to paragraph d). So it would be good if we could add it to the fifth bullet in the release.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I want to ensure for Andréanne that the information she is receiving is already in the English version.

Analysts, is there something that's missing in the English version? Was that something that was missing in the French version only?

Go ahead, Dominique.

[Dominique Montpetit, Committee Researcher]

It is not in the English version or the French. We just summarized, so this is a part that we left out. We will add it in both languages.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Can I get consent from the committee to add that in both French and English? Is everybody okay with that?

Go ahead, Laila.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Can we just confirm what is being added in both languages before we proceed?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Analysts, I'm going to pass that back to you.

Go ahead, Dominique.

[Dominique Montpetit]

In the original motion, I think it was point (d) that mentioned legislation regarding coercive and controlling behaviours, as well as “other public policy tools”. We summarized the information in the press release, so “public policy tools” is not in the press release at the moment.

If I'm understanding correctly, the suggestion now is to add that to the last bullet point, the fifth bullet point, in the press release.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Are there any objections to that? I see that it matches what we are studying.

I see none. All in favour?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's awesome.

Let's move on to this great study that we're going to be starting. I will let everybody know that I am working with my son's Casio watch from 1980, it looks like, so I will be ensuring that I keep everybody to their proper times.

Today is fantastic because we have some wonderful people who will be our witnesses today. I would like to start by welcoming our panel of witnesses.

From the Department for Women and Gender Equality, we have Alia Butt, assistant deputy minister, strategic policy; Annette Arsenault, director general, gender-based violence policy; and Lisa Smylie, director general, research, results and delivery branch.

It is wonderful that you have joined us today.

I have a red note here. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you this, Clerk: Do we have the senior counsel and the director and general counsel? Are they here with us today as well?

[Stephanie Bond, Procedural Clerk]

Yes. Ms. Levman is here, as well as Ms. Farid.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you so much.

We also have with us, from the Department of Justice, Nathalie Levman, senior counsel, criminal law policy section, and Claire Farid, director and general counsel, family and children's law team, policy sector. I have it noted here that they will not be making opening remarks.

I'm now going to turn the floor over the first speaker.

There may be a different order that you would like. If you do want a different order, please let me know.

Ms. Butt, I'm going to pass the floor over to you for five minutes.

[Alia Butt, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy, Department for Women and Gender Equality]

Thank you very much.

Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that I am speaking with you from the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples.

I am pleased to connect with you from the various territories and communities you are in today.

Madam Chair and committee members, it's a pleasure for me to participate in your study of intimate partner violence and domestic violence in Canada.

I am the assistant deputy minister of strategic policy at Women and Gender Quality Canada. I appreciate this committee's dedication to the continued research of an issue that is central to our work.

Everyone in Canada has the right to live free from violence. However, in Canada, 44% of women, or 6.2 million women, will experience some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

In fact, intimate partner violence is one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence. GBV is one of the most pervasive, deadly and deeply rooted human rights violations of our time. It is also preventable and a significant barrier to achieving gender equality.

The data on intimate partner violence paints a disturbing picture. In the last year alone, over 225,000 women experienced intimate partner violence. That means that 618 women in Canada every day lived in fear, experiencing violence by a partner. Younger women between the ages of 15 and 44 years experience the highest levels of intimate partner violence of any age group. In addition, indigenous women are two times more likely to experience spousal violence than are non-indigenous women. People with disabilities, LGBTQ2 individuals, women living in the territories and women living with low income are more likely to experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. And let's not forget that for every woman impacted, there is a family and often children impacted too.

Preventing and addressing gender-based violence is a national priority, and numerous actions are under way that provide a solid foundation to build upon, including responding to the reported increased level of GBV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since April 2020, the Government of Canada, through Women and Gender Equality Canada, has provided emergency funding to support over 1,200 organizations that provide a range of GBV supports and services across Canada. To date, more than 1.3 million people have had a safe place to turn because of this funding.

The pandemic has reinforced the need for and urgency of a national action plan to end gender-based violence. To this end, Women and Gender Equality Canada is working closely with provincial and territorial governments to develop this plan, building on what we have heard from stakeholders and indigenous partners. Important steps towards the national action plan to end gender-based violence have been achieved in recent years and months.

At their 38th annual meeting, held in January 2021, the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for the status of women endorsed the joint declaration for a Canada free of gender-based violence, which confirmed the common vision, principles and goals for responding to GBV. This joint declaration provides the overarching framework for the plan currently under development.

In December 2021, at their 39th annual meeting, ministers agreed to continue their commitment and collaboration to advance towards this national action plan. To support this effort, the Government of Canada is investing $601.3 million over five years, starting this fiscal year, to advance towards the national action plan to end GBV.

Women and Gender Equality, or WAGE, is investing $450 million of this funding in the following areas: to support shelters, sexual assault centres, women's organizations and other organizations providing supports and services to those experiencing GBV; to enhance the GBV program, including funding to engage men and boys and support at-risk populations of survivors; to establish a dedicated secretariat to coordinate ongoing work toward the development and implementation of the GBV national action plan; to advance important research and knowledge mobilization; to support crisis hotlines; and to support the important work the government is doing on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. WAGE is also investing $55 million to bolster the capacity of indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ organizations to specifically provide GBV prevention programming. The call for proposals to access this funding is currently open.

All of these initiatives are building on the federal GBV strategy launched in 2017. I would like to highlight for the committee a few of the Government of Canada's key achievements. Since 2018, the department has invested over $30 million in GBV research, including a new national survey that provided us with our first comprehensive understanding of intimate partner violence in Canada, with an innovative index developed by the University of Western Ontario. Also in 2018, the government launched the GBV Knowledge Centre's online platform, which brings together program and research evidence and resources to enable evidence-based action on GBV. The platform also includes key information on resources available for those affected by GBV. Since 2015, the government has invested over $1 billion to prevent and address GBV and committed an additional $601 million through budget 2021.

Of our own investments in that period, WAGE provided more than 1,600 organizations with $730 million to support more than 500 projects working to prevent GBV and to support survivors and their families. Because of these projects, nearly 2.6 million women gained access to programs and supports related to GBV, including access to counselling, court services and trauma-informed victim services. An additional one million people gained skills and knowledge to prevent GBV and to support those affected.

I'm getting the signal.

I'm confident this committee's study will make a valuable contribution to the efforts to end GBV. I look forward to reviewing your study and applying it to the GBV national action plan.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Thank you, Ms. Butt, for recognizing that whenever the green pen starts circling, I'm winding it up. Thank you so much. That's wonderful.

I'm now going to pass it over to Annette Arsenault.

Annette, you have five minutes.

[Alia Butt]

Madam Chair, I'm the only one who was going to be—

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Well, goodness gracious, Ms. Butt. Did I really.... I'm going to break here.

Did I steal all of your time? Do you still have a lot left?

[Alia Butt]

No. That's okay. I ran through it fairly quickly.

I'm the only one making remarks on behalf of WAGE today. Also, as you mentioned, Justice officials who are here with us today are not making remarks but are here to field any questions you may have specific to the areas of the work they do.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

That's wonderful. Thank you so much.

We have all of our witnesses who are going to be here and able to take these questions.

This is going to be our first official meeting with witnesses for the 44th Parliament, so I'll once again give everybody a breakdown as we start these meetings. In the first round, everybody is going to be given six minutes. Those six minutes include the questions and the answers, and, of course, you're going to start seeing the green pen spinning around. In the second round, we have five minutes. It will be five minutes for the CPC and Liberal spokespersons, and two and a half minutes for the Bloc and the NDP. Then we go back to a five-minute round for the third round.

We're going to start today's questions. I'm going to pass the floor over to Dominique Vien.

Dominique, you have six minutes for questions.